GrimsReaper - Souls
by ChainResonance
Summary: Weapon meister Corvis Reaper and his demon weapons Sun and Moon Tucker quit the DWMA almost an entire year ago to collect souls on their own. But when a valuable member of the team is taken by a mysterious woman, the others must return to the DWMA. See how their old and new friends react to their arrival in the first part to the GrimsReaper series.
1. Introduction

**Introduction**

**Before you even think about reading this story, read this!**

Please realize the following things as you read through GrimsReaper:

1) It's important to know the time period of this story first. The story takes place before Kishin Asura's revival, so I'd say between episodes 13 (Man with Demon Eyes; Maka and Soul, the Gap of the Soul's Wavelength) and 18 (Nightmare at the Night Festival; And the Act Rose Up?). For those that read the manga, this story takes place between chapters 9 (The Experiment; First Part) and 15 (The Eve of Establishment Commemoration Festival).

2) You'll also need to understand that I've incorporated terms from both the Soul Eater Anime and Manga. I use the term_ demon weapon_ instead of _death weapon_. When a demon weapon absorbs 99 kishin eggs and a witch's soul, they become a _death scythe_ and when they absorb innocent souls (these are _dark weapons_) they become a _demon sword_. The school is the DWMA (_Death Weapon Meister Academy_) instead of _Shibusen_. Lord Death is still Lord Death instead of Shinigami. Many attack names and weapon names have differences between the Anime and Manga that you will notice. There are too many differences to name, so just pay close attention.

3) Thirdly, _soul keepers _do not exist in the Soul Eater universe. I've just created them for GrimsReaper. There are also other terms that I've created just for GrimsReaper.

4) Here's something you should know about how I use demon weapons in the text. I use musical instruments to represent the soul wavelength(s) of the weapon(s) when resonating with their meister. When a demon weapon is speaking while in their weapon form and when they are inside their minds, the text will be italicized.

5) Finally, many events will occur in this fanfiction which may make you think, "_No way that could that ever happen! What's wrong with _this guy,_ for thinking that's even a possibility!?_" Well, let me remind you that **_THIS IS A FANFICTION AND ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN!_** Okay, not anything. But I promise, no matter how abstract things may get, if you read through the rest of the series then everything will make sense.

So I hope you enjoy this story! Here's a quick introduction:

Almost a full year ago, Corvis Reaper and his demon weapons Sun Tucker and Moon Tucker quit the DWMA. They wanted to pursue kishin eggs on their own so they could come back to the DWMA as triumphant death scythes. After collecting nearly one-third of the 100 souls needed to turn a demon weapon into a death scythe, they lose a valuable team member. In order to get him back, the remaining team members must suck up their pride and return to their old school, who mostly hates their guts. There, they meet some old friends and new friends who hopefully will be willing to help Reaper rebuild his team. Many challenge stand in the way of their goal, and one huge obstacle stands at the goal. But, with a little teamwork and new acquired abilities, they just might pull it off.

**Enjoy the first of four parts to the GrimsReaper series!**


	2. On Our Own (First Part)

**Perfect Harmony, the Soul Resonance; Fight the Bewitching Beast**

A little boy and girl run down an alleyway blacker than the night sky.

Panting and choking back tears, they weave left and right through the dense city of Las Vegas. They try everything they can to evade their pursuer but every time they stop to catch their breath they hear the monster lumbering behind them. At one point, the little girl collapses and tumbles into puddle made from a leaky pipe. Her beautiful white dress was now stained and smelled like a wet dog.

"Bonnie!" The boy cries out and runs back to help his sister up.

"I wanna go home!" She cries. "I'm scared! I'm tired! I hate this!"

"Well get back home, Bonnie. I promise! But to do that we have find a way to get away from that monster!" The boy pulls Bonnie to her feet. They hear a rumbling noise coming from down the ally.

"It's the monster!" The tiny girl squeaks. "What do we do, Christopher!?"

Christopher scans the thin alleyway, squinting, straining to see through the dark. He spots a ladder leading up the side of the building next to them and lifts Bonnie up and onto the ladder. She grabs hold of it and starts to climb, despite her fear of heights. Christopher grabs the ladder as well and clambers up after Bonnie.

On the roof, Bonnie and Christopher survey the city. "We've been running for so long," Bonnie mumbles. "I've lost my sense of direction."

"Me too," Christopher agrees. He then turns away from the bright light of Vegas and heads back over to the ladder they climbed. He reluctantly peaks over the edge of the building. Down below, hunched over in the ally, is the monster.

The beast looks somewhere between a frog and an ape. Its body is grey and covered with rough bumps and boils. Its hind legs fold inward toward the beast's body at the knees. Both feet have 4 toes, each one tipped with a long, dagger-like spike. The creature balances itself with its front fists. The head is horribly misshapen, the mouth is filled with razor sharp fangs, the nose is pulled up toward the beast's scalp, and the eyes are blood red. Hearing a soft panting noise with its pointed ears, the beast jerks its head up to the source of the nearly inaudible noise.

"Christopher?" Bonnie turns around to see her brother transfixed at something down below. "Christopher!?" She runs over to her brother and looks down into the alleyway.

Bonnie stares into the pair of oversized eyes looking back up at her. In an instant, Bonnie looses herself and can no longer see anything else in the world but the red of those eyes. That's the power of the Orgog, the Bewitching Beast.

Christopher and Bonnie lean over the edge of the building. They stretch their torsos far over the apartment roof. Their hands slip and they plummet from the ten story, red, brick building. The children don't scream, they're completely unaware of their peril. Orgog opens its jaws, baring its fangs at the children.

Two figures clothed in black cloaks leap through the air with amazing grace. One grabs Bonnie out of the air and the other grabs Christopher. The kids are whisked away from the gaping mouth of Orgog and safely laid on the ground on the other side of the beast. The figures turn and face the monster. Each of the figures have a cloth tied to their heads that covers their eyes.

"So, this is Orgog, the Bewitching Beast?" The man with the blue cloth mutters.

"You think this guy is on Lord Death's list?" The other one asks straightening his white cloth.

"You mean this child eating monstrosity?" A voice calls from the other side of the Bewitching Beast. Orgog turns around and glares down at a third cloaked figure with a red cloth covering his eyes. "I don't even need to check our copy of the list to tell we have our 33rd soul standing in front of us."

Orgog grumbles at the figures that have disturbed its meal. "Oh, are you wondering why you don't have us under your spell?" Red bandana taunts. "It's a simple tactic really. These bandanas are thin enough to enable us see enough of you without us falling under you curse!"

While Orgog is busy staring down at the confident man, the two figures behind it attack. White bandana's arm glows and changes shape. In a flash of golden light, the figure's arm is replaced with a golden blade, curved forward like a scythe. The second man's arm flashes a bright blue color and becomes a white scythe blade. Together they swing their scythe-arms at Orgog and cut an "x "into its back. Blood spurts out of the wound they created and soaks the men's black cloaks. Orgog reels back and lets out an earth shaking roar. The men jump out of the way before they get trampled, flash their arms back to normal, and join the man with the red bandana.

"Damn it! That bastard stained our cloaks!" Blue bandana yells.

"Moon, there are children here! Don't use that kind of language!" Red bandana scolds.

"Get focused, guys! Reaper, we'll turn back into scythes for you!" White bandana exclaims.

"Sure thing, Sun! Let's take this guy!" Red bandana, Reaper, pulls off his cloak while White, Sun, and Blue, Moon transform into a ball of golden light and a ball of blue light. Their cloaks and bandanas fall to the ground. The glowing orbs fly into the sky drawing Orgog's attention away from Reaper. Then the orbs that were once Sun and Moon each transform again into golden bladed and white bladed scythe. Reaper catches the scythes in each hand as they fall back to the earth, the golden one in his right, the white in his left. Each scythe has a flat surface opposite the blade that serves as a hammer.

Reaper is wearing a sleeveless jumpsuit that's dark brown on either side of a multicolored stripe running vertically through the middle. The colors in the stripe bounce and shift like a lava lamp. Reaper's hair is chestnut brown and flat on his left side. On his right side, the hair spikes off to the side. His big silver combat boots are studded with small glass domes that also display a colorful light show.

Each of his scythes are 6 feet tall (a foot taller than Reaper) and the scythe blades extend 3 feet outward. The scythe hammers are a foot long and the faces are 2 feet by 2 feet. Overall, Reaper's weapons are very large and powerful.

"Orgog, the Bewitching Beast," Reaper says. "We're here for your soul!"

Reaper grunts as he throws Moon, the white scythe, at Orgog. The blade gets lodged in Orgog's stomach. With two large, muscular arms, the blood-soaked beast reached down and grips the shaft in an attempt to pull it out. Before it can, Reaper swings Sun, the golden scythe, up at Orgog. The blade cuts through Orgog's fingers, slicing the middle and ring fingers off like butter.

Finishing the back-flip, Reaper swings the scythe again.

"Go Hammer Scythe!" He yells. During this swing, the hammer of the scythe collide, forcing Moon deeper into the beast's body. Orgog howls in pain.

"_This was a bad idea guys!_" The white scythe yells with Moon's voice.

"Why is that?" Reaper yells, barrel-rolling away from Orgog's flailing fists.

"_It stinks in here!_" Moon complains.

"_It will be all worth it when we're death scythes!_" Sun yells from the golden scythe, his blade deflecting a blow from the beast.

"_You know it's really not that bad once you get used to it!_" The white scythe exclaims. "_Hit me again!_"

Reaper chuckles at his friend. Orgog slams his fist into Reaper sending him flying. The Bewitching Beast grabs Moon again in a second attempt to pull him out.

"_Owowowow!_" Moon cries out. Orgog pulls Moon out and throws him back at Reaper. Then, the beast turns back to its original prey. The white scythe clatters on the concrete in front of Reaper. In a flash of blue light, Moon appears where the scythe once lay. "What was that!? We had him and lost the chance to kill him!"

Moon's once flawless white jumpsuit was randomly spotted with the monster's blood. His white hair and bandana are also stained, but when Moon runs his hands through his curly locks, most of the dried blood came out. He runs his hands down his jumpsuit removing the blood from it as well.

"We've done this 32 times before! What's wrong with us!?" Reaper grumbles.

"_I'll tell you what wrong!_" Sun yells and he flashes back to human form. Sun's clothes remain intact unlike his partner. His short, blond hair and yellow-orange jumpsuit have no stains, marks, or tears. "Our plan failed because you two lost your focus. You two need to pay attention to every move our opponent makes. I think you guys are getting cocky since we've been so successful so far in collecting our 100 souls."

"You know, you're brother's right," Reaper says to Moon. "You need to practice focus."

Sun transforms into his golden scythe and hits Reaper over the head with its hammer. Reaper cries out, "Damn it! Sorry, sorry, _we_ need to practice focus."

Sun changes back to human form and nods his approval.

The children scream behind the men. They turn and see the behemoth towered over its victims, ready to sink it's fangs into them.

"Okay, let's do this for real this time!" Reaper yells. Sun and Moon flash and turn back into Reaper's demon weapons.

"_Hey asshole!_" Moon yells at Orgog. The beast turns back to the trio.

"Language, Moon!" Reaper scolds.

"_What? The kids are unconscious again!_"

"_Shut up!_" Sun yells. The golden blade glows and changes shape. Sun's naked torso sticks out of the blade. "Idiots!" He hits Reaper over the head.

"Ow! Sorry. Focus. Got it!" Reaper says as Sun turns back into a scythe blade. He quickly jumps out of the way of Orgog's surprise attack. Reaper counterattacks with a downward cut with Sun. The blade cuts of Orgog's thumb. With a twist of his wrist, Reaper swings his golden scythe around so the blade is behind him in a ready position to be swung again. He then spins Moon around his body and launches it back at Orgog's stomach wound. The beast sees this coming and knocks the blade away.

"_Crap! I don't think our original plan is going to work any more!_" Moon cries out.

"Then I guess we're going to have to jump to plan B!" Reaper calls as he lowers Sun. He quickly dashes over to Moon and lifts him up. "This may kill us but we'll have to perform our special move despite the fact that Orgog may not be weak enough for it to be effective."

"_I don't think doing this will hurt us, Orgog is severely wounded,_" Sun points out.

"_Then what are we waiting for!?_" Moon yells. "_Let's kill this fr… uh… monster!_"

"Good boy," Reaper smiles at Moon and Sun's reflections in the scythe blades. "Get ready to play your hardest!"

Reaper ducks under Orgog's punch. Closing his eyes and taking deep breaths, Reaper continues to swiftly evade the incoming attacks.

"_We've done this several times before,_" Sun says. "_We'll be fine!_ _Just don't get hit until we're ready._"

"_Let's get ready to perform,_" Moon cheers.

"_Soul Resonance!_" They all shout in unison.

_Sun and Moon approach a large concert grand piano in their Duet Concert Stage. They flick back the tails on their gold and white trench coats as they take their seats at the brown bench in front of the keys; Moon on the upper register of the piano and Sun on the lower. Moon cracks his knuckles as he and his brother reaches over the keys. They slam down on the first chord of the tune they are about to play._

As Reaper jumps out of the way from another one of Orgog's attacks, his scythes begin to glow, the streams of color trailing behind.

"Good job you two," Reaper smiles as he continues to avoid Orgog. "I felt that chord. Keep it up."

_Moon and Reaper continue their song as lights illuminate the darkness around them. Blue and golden spotlights spins around the piano as their playing picks up tempo._

The meister deflects Orgog as the beast swing both arms at him. He pushes them away with such force that the Bewitching Beast is knocked off balance. Reaper holds the scythes in front of him, with both blades pointed away from him. He closes his eyes as the flourishing notes ring through his head. Reaper takes note to the tempo and time of the rhythm. The way his partners play makes the sound rattle through the air around them. After taking a deep breath, Reaper feels his heartbeat sync with the music. His soul is in perfect harmony to the wonderful symphony being performed by the demon weapons.

_"Nice," Moon smiles. A sour note escapes his fingers. He and Sun wince at the flat sound that breaks through the melody._

The white scythe stops glowing.

"Moon!" Reaper yells. "Careful! If one of us looses our focus we're dead."

_"Sorry sorry sorry!" Moon yells as he quickly scrambles to find where he should come back in._

_Sun, with his eyes closed, says, "Stay calm, feel the rhythm. Match your wavelength to that."_

_Sun stops his scrambling fingers and pulls them away from the keys. He listens closely to the music his brother is making. He can feel the focus and precision in every key he hits. With that, Moon continues the song, harmonizing with what Sun plays._

Reaper ducks out of the way of a second attack as Moon begins to glow again in his scythe form. The meister smiles as the music runs through his soul once again. He holds the glowing blades out to his side as charges at the beast.

"SOUL REAPING SCISSOR!" Reaper declares as he swings his scythes inward. Both blades cut through Orgog's sides. When the blades touch in Orgog's center, Sun stomps on the second petal beneath the piano to make the sound vibrate. Two sharp beams of white energy expand outward. Reaper pulls himself into a handstand, still holding onto his scythes. As the note vibrates through the resonating meister and weapons, the energy from Orgog's center, passing under Reaper and soaring over the unconscious children. The Bewitching Beast is cut in half.

_Sun and Moon step away from their piano, turn, and bow to an invisible audience._

Orgog's severed torso falls from its body and vaporizes into black smoke. Reaper jumps back from the rest of Orgog, pulling his scythes with him. From the limp lower half of Orgog, a red, wispy orb floats up. The orb is coated with bold, hexagonal plates. The lower half of the beast vaporizes as well.

"The soul reaping was a success," Reaper pants as he holds lowers himself and his partners. "You two can turn back now." Moon and Sun reappear next to their meister. Reaper removes his red bandana.

"Soul number 33!" He grins. "And look at that, It's a _kishin egg_."

"It's awesome!" Moon adds. "Just think, if we had let Orgog continue eating souls…"

"It would become too powerful for anyone to stop it," Sun concludes Moon's sentence.

Reaper walks over to the beast's soul and, grabbing the soul by its wispy tail, Reaper lifts the soul up and inserts it into his mouth. The meister swallows it whole, "Nice and safe!"

"You know it's really nice having you as our meister," Sun compliments. "Especially you being a rare _soul keeper_! It makes storing our collection so much easier."

"Holy shit!" Moon yelps. "Reaper! Spit that out! It just came to me that Death only has evil _humans_ on his list! Orgog wasn't on the list at all!"

The shifting colors on Reapers stripe accelerate and glow brighter. Then they slow down and the glowing diminishes. "Damn it! Too late! It's already stored in my soul!" He groans. Reaper points towards the glowing stripe on his body. "Quick, one of you reach into my soul stripe and remove the soul!"

"Wait a second!" Sun holds back Moon as he approaches his meister. "It was a kishin egg. We don't need to worry, Death wants us to collect those."

"But this came from a monster! Death doesn't want those right?" Reaper says.

"Reaper, we're fine!" Sun tries to calm his freaked out meister.

"Moon, look what you've done! You've gotten us all confused!" Reaper wags a finger at his partner.

"Sorry, this is our first monster," Moon shrugs.

"Never mind! But I don't want to run the risk!" Reaper says. "We need 99 _evil human _souls and I don't want to be disappointed when we get everything we need and then have to start over because of this one conflicting soul! Get it out!"

Suddenly there's a second flash from the stripe. Then a third flash, a fourth, fifth, sixth. Reaper's soul stripe continues to shine over and over again. The strange phenomenon finally stops.

"I've never felt anything like this before!" Reaper gasps. "That wasn't just one soul I stored. It was 20!"

"20!?" Sun gasps.

"Well actually 23," Reaper clarifies. "But still, somehow Orgog had 22 human souls, good and bad in his own!" Reaper holds his hands over his belly and presses them slightly in. "I really feel sick! I've never taken in more than one soul at a time!"

"What should we do?" Moon asks.

"What can we do?" Sun shrugs. "Reaper, can you tell how many of those souls belonged to good people?"

"Give me a second. And stay quiet! You know this takes a serious amount of concentration!" Reaper states as he shuts his eyes. The soul keeper's consciousness floats down from his head into the darkness of his body. He sees a clear orb floating out in the middle of the emptiness, his soul.

Inside his soul, several smaller particles drift lazily around. Nearly every soul is a kishin egg, red and decorated with hexagonal plates, but Reaper notices that out of the 55 souls he has stored in his own, two are pink, one is yellow, and two are blue. Those souls are definitely not kishin eggs.

Reaper opens his eyes again, "I counted 5 non-kishin souls of the 22 we got from Orgog.

"That many?" Sun asks. "I thought there would be more innocent souls?"

"It makes sense," Moon says. "We're in Vegas, a city overflowing with crime!"

"Since we're all confused, we'll pretend Orgog's soul is no good and Lord Death won't accept that one," Reaper continues. "That leaves us with 49 kishin eggs. And it really doesn't matter how many good souls there were, there's no way for use to return those ones anyway. Their bodies are gone. So really we have 54 souls!"

"Reaper's right, you know," Moon agrees. "The only reason Death doesn't want us to take the souls of innocent people is because he doesn't want demon weapons turning into demon swords instead of death scythes. I mean, it's not like _we _killed those 5 innocent souls. We won't turn evil if we consume them, right!?"

Sun takes a moment to contemplate their situation. He then makes his decision, "Corvis Reaper, this better not get us in serious trouble with this!"

"Sun Tucker, we've been ditching school for the past 9 months," Reaper imitates. "We're already in big trouble!"

Moon and Sun chuckle in agreement.


	3. On Our Own (Last Part)

**Captives; Escape the Invisible Prison **

An unseen figure looms above the meister and his demon weapons.

The figure however is not in Las Vegas.

Using her Divine Sight, a woman glares down at the soul collectors.

"Who do these children think they are!?" She grumbles. "They killed my hunter!"

Blinking quickly, the woman cuts off her connection to Vegas. She returns to her lair, a pitch-black dungeon cell. Rats scurry across the cold stone floor. One very brave rat approaches the woman. It sniffs and nibbles at the figure's bare feet. With a quick glance from the woman, the rat jerks up on its hind legs. The rat's eyes turn the same color of red as the strange woman's.

"I should have a talk with those killers," She mutters. The woman leans down and picks up the vermin by its tail.

Whispering into the rat's perked ear, the woman waves her hand beneath it. She then drops the rat leaving it floating in the air. It vanishes in a purple flash.

* * *

Back in the Las Vegas alleyway.

"So, do you still want us to remove Orgog's soul if we're not going to use it?" Sun asks.

"On second thought, let's just leave it," Reaper says. "It's actually really uncomfortable when someone touches my soul stripe. Anyway, what are we going to do about these kids?" Reaper asks his partners. "They're still unconscious."

"I say we drag them out onto the street and hope some pervert doesn't find them before their parents do," Moon jokes.

"That's not funny at all, sicko!" His brother scolds.

"I'm just sayin'…" Moon shrugs.

"Moon might have a point, Sun," Reaper says. "We have no idea what to do with these kids anyway."

"I don't know," Sun mutters. "We saved their lives so we're kind of responsible for them."

"Then let's just take them to someone who'll take care of them for us. I think there's an orphanage nearby that would be glad to hold two little lost children for us!" Moon points off in some random direction.

"Let's vote on this!" Sun declares. "Raise your hand if we should hold on to this kids until we can find their family!" Sun raises his hand. Moon and Reaper snicker among each other. "Well… my vote counts three times since I'm our team leader!"

"What the hell are you talking about!?" Reaper exclaims. "I'm your _meister_!"

"Well… then my vote counts three times since I'm lead scythe!"

"Hell no!" Moon interjects.

"I thought we agreed I was going to be our first death scythe once we've collected all the souls we need!?" Sun jerks his thumb at his chest.

"We didn't agree to that, actually!" Moon yells.

"Just frickin' shut up! You're like two little girls!" Reaper yells. "Fine! Let's find these kids' parents!"

"Fine!" Moon throws his hands up in the air.

"I'll take these kids off your hands!" An unseen voice volunteers.

"Sounds good to me!" Moon replies.

"Wait… wha!?" Reaper gasps.

"Look guys! Up in the sky!" Moon points up into the night.

"It's a bird, you asshole!" Reaper punches Moon's arm. "Stay focused!"

"No, that's defiantly not a bird!" Sun exclaim.

"Oh excuse me! It's a plane, right?" Reaper mocks.

"No, it's a rat!?" Moon raises an eyebrow.

Just a Moon says that, a flying rat descends from the air and hovers in front of the soul collectors. "Yes and no!" The rat chuckles. "I need your help, and no will not be accepted as an answer."

"This is frickin' messed up!" Moon shouts. The rat turns to the demon weapon and looks into his eyes. Moon closes his and falls over unconscious.

"Moon!?" Sun gasps as the rat turns to him, knocking him unconscious.

As the rat pivots to face Reaper as he mutters, "This _is_ frickin' messed up."

* * *

Reaper jerks his eyes open, hoping to escape the darkness of unconsciousness. Unfortunately he finds himself in a whole new kind of darkness. The disoriented meister scans the room he finds himself trapped in. Moon and Sun are leaning up against the wall of the prison. They each look half asleep. Sun sees his partner is awake and holds his eyelids to keep them from closing.

"Reaper?" He mutters groggily. "What happened?"

"Good question," Reaper groans. "Is Moon alright?"

"Yeah. He talks in his sleep," Sun chuckles.

Right on cue, Moon mutters, "Do I take Maka Albarn to be my wife? Hell yeah!"

Reaper snorts back a laugh. An unseen hand covers his mouth before he can let it out. "Keep your mouth SHUT!" A feminine voice hisses. "Understand!?"

"Mm-hmm," Reaper's muffled voice breaks through the hand.

"Stay silent and in the dark until morning. The guards let us out for an hour each dawn."

"Guards?" Sun whispers, a water droplet falls from the ceiling onto his head.

"No, darling! Soul Eater must never know!" Moon mutters.

"Will someone shut him up!?" The figure backs away from Reaper into the cover of the dark.

"I thought he got over his little DWMA crush?" Reaper asks.

"Apparently not," Sun replies.

"Should we tease him when he wakes up?"

"No, darling. Moon must never know!" Sun mimics and bursts out with laughter. Reaper joins the laughter. Two rats climb up Sun and Reaper and jump into their mouths.

"I said, stay quite. If you get me in trouble I will rip out you lungs so you won't make any more noise." The figure threatens.

Sun and Reaper spit out their rats (as silently as they can), wipe down their tongues (as silently as they can) and look over into the corner of the prison cell. The figure that brought them into the cell leans up against the corner of the box prison. A single small light bulb in the opposite corner of the room shines dully. In the weak light, very little is visible about the figure is her long silver hair and bare feet.

"How did that happen?" Sun coughs.

"My little secret," The woman mutters.

"What's up with you?" Reaper asks.

"You do realize I've kidnapped you and forced you into this tiny prison cell with me," The figure asks.

"Well you don't seem like you're going to hurt us," Reaper says. "And yeah we _could_ kill you right now, just me and Sun. But there's no other way out of here so we might as well wait, huh pal?" Reaper looks over to Sun.

"Please just stop," Sun chuckles.

"What!? Are you joking!? We can't support a family, Maka!" Moon giggles in his sleep. Sun and Reaper cover their mouths to keep themselves from laughing. Their cellmate chuckles in their place.

"Whoa!? You can laugh!?" Sun gasps.

"It's been a while," The figure smiles. "I think you should wake up your friend before we get busted."

"Sure, but you've got some explaining to do," Sun says sternly. He elbows his brother, snapping him back into reality.

"Wha!? Oh, hey Sun! Who's your friend? Wait!? Where the hell are we!? What's goin' on!?" Moon stammers.

"Shhhhh. It's alright, Moon. This is… what's your name?" Reaper asks.

"Natana. Just Natana," The figure in the corner says. Natana quickly gets to her feet. "I hear a guard coming. It must be morning. Back into the corner quick!" The wall behind Natana makes a clicking noise. "Shit!" She hisses.

A section of the stone wall begins to slowly rise up into the ceiling. Natana mutters a series of words at a tone too quiet for anyone to hear. When the wall rises completely, a man wearing a button-up, black suit. He is also wearing long black jeans held up by a grey belt decorated with weapons. A pistol, taser and several batons and blades hang down from his sides. The man wears a white mask with no details or even slits for his eyes or mouth.

"Is it morning already?" Natana asks innocently.

"Let's go, witch!" The man grunts.

"Witch!?" Moon exclaims. Reaper and Sun jump at him and cover his mouth. The masked man doesn't seem to take notice to the three strangers in the cell. Instead he places a hand on Natana's shoulder and leads her outside the cell. With a slight twitch of her finger, Natana gestures for her guests to follow her. As the cell wall closes, they duck underneath it and follow Natana down the winding, black hallway.

* * *

"She's really a witch!?" Moon asks. "Why don't we have her soul?"

"Because she was nice to us," Reaper answers.

"She kidnapped us!" Moon yells.

"Keep your voices down!" Sun hushes.

"Don't worry, Sun! NO ONE CAN HEAR US!" Reaper yells as loud as he can. No one stirs in large brown yard they've been guided into. It's about the same length as a football field and covered in dying grass. The sky is artificial, Moon finds from eavesdropping on a group of prisoners. Every prisoner is wearing grey rags that only reach their knees. None of them have sleeves and are wore like a toga or in some instances like a loincloth. All the prisoners are either muttering amongst each other or just stretching and enjoying the hot, dry air being pumped into the field. It can be plainly told that the prisoners enjoy being in the field more than they do in their cells.

Reaper and his demon weapons walk around through the field looking for Natana. Moon tugs on his brother's arm and points over toward the corner of the field. Natana performing trunk twists alone. The soul collectors work their way across the field, trying to avoid bumping into a prisoner and giving away their position. When they reach Natana they call her name out only to find that she can't hear or see them either.

"Natana!" Reaper yells. "Natana!"

Sun shakes his head, "It's no good!"

"I got this!" Moon says. He cracks his knuckles and shoves Natana onto the ground.

She gasps in surprise, "It's you guys."

"Finally!" Reaper groans.

"You three, follow me," Natana pulls herself to her feet and leads the invisible people to the most secluded section of the field. There, she chants more incomprehensible words. "Alright, you three are now visible and audible again."

"Thanks, I guess," Reaper says.

"Alright, witch! You've got some explaining to do!" Moon pokes Natana.

"Yes it's true!" Natana raises her hands. "I'm witch Natana!"

"You know that at some point we need to absorb the soul of a witch, right!?" Sun explains.

"I know that. But let me say that it will be extremely hard to kill me!" Natana pokes Moon back.

"Why's that?" Moon asks.

Natana stares into Moon's eyes. His eyes turn from blue to blood red. He turns to Reaper and Sun and says in a monotone voice, "Natana is the best! Natana is sexy! Natana can take control of your mind and send you running off a cliff. Natana cannot be beat!"

Moon's eyes return to normal. He lets out a long groan, "That was messed up!"

"As a witch I posses many unique abilities," Natana explains. "One of them is my Divine Sight, which I used to keep watch over my soul collecting monster in Las Vegas."

"Orgog was you monster!?" Reaper gasps.

"I heard that's what they called it," Natana says.

"Those rumors about the Bewitching Beast were really off!" Sun groans.

"Yeah! Those ladies said it was a demon from hell, come to feast on the flesh of Vegas tourists through hypnosis!" Moon complains. "Who would have thought _this_ was the truth. Never trust a stripper!

"If I may continue?" Natana asks. "I can also control the weak minded with my Bewitch ability.

"You callin' me weak!?" Moon asks sternly. "Because I am." He finishes in a monotone voice.

"Get out of his head, Natana!" Sun commands. Natana closes her eyes and raises her hands to surrender. Moon massages his temples.

"As you've just seen, I make it so one is unseen and unheard. It's really more complicated than that. That's my Eraser ability. And I can transform simple creatures like rats or even the occasional frog into much more _intimidating_ forms."

"Where do you find frogs in a place like this!?" Reaper asks.

"That's my little secret. And finally I can teleport other people or animals. Again, more complicated than what I say."

"So tell me, Natana." Sun interrupts. "What are you doing in a place like this? And what is this place?"

"To be honest, I don't know what this place is called or where it is. All I know is this is my prison," Natana motions towards the field littered with ragged criminals. "I was brought here, I think 10 years ago with my sister; time works differently at this prison."

"Why were you brought here?" Reaper asks.

"Why do you think she was brought here, moron!?" Moon grunts. "She's a witch!"

"I was wrongfully brought here! I didn't do anything bad, nor did my sister!" Natana explodes. She starts to tear up. "Just because we were witches, they tore us away from our home! They were afraid we were going to do something evil eventually! So they brought us here to prevent what wouldn't happen!"

Reaper, Sun, and Moon recoil from the sudden outburst. After a brief pause, Sun speaks up, "Where is your sister, if I may ask?"

"She was always more powerful than me. So they put her in the maximum security section of the prison," Natana wipes her nose. "Prisoners down there don't come up to the yard. They are fed only enough to barely survive. They live in total darkness."

"Darker than your cell?" Moon asks.

"Much darker." Natana sniffs. "I watched you three kill Orgog, and I think you can help me get my sister back to me. And help us escape!"

"Escape!?" Moon exclaims.

"Wait!? I don't know if we can do that!" Sun shakes his head.

"Why not!?" Reaper shouts. "They were wrongfully arrested! We should help them!"

"She sent a monster to kill people! You said when you checked the souls we took from Orgog there were good souls in there!" Sun yells. "I say she did do something wrong!"

"But her sister didn't."

"Guys. Shouldn't we find out _why _Orgog was after people's souls?" Moon asks.

"I'll tell you why!" Natana yells. "I need 100 souls just like you. My sister is a demon weapon!"

The three soul collectors gasp.

"How does a witch become a demon weapon!?" Moon gawks.

"Long story!" Natana says. "I figured I would use Orgog to collect the souls I need to turn her into a death scythe so she could break out of her cell and get us out of the prison!"

"What about the witch's soul!?" Reaper asks. "You'd need one to make her a death scythe."

"If I had to… I would've killed myself to get her out," Natana mutters.

Another moment of silence.

"I… I don't know what to say," Moon says.

"I do!" Sun exclaims. "Teleport us out of here!"

"What!?" Natana shrieks.

"You're story has some pretty big holes in it!" Sun accuses. "How would you get the souls to your sister if you're dead yourself, for one thing?"

"Uhhh?"

"And how are you supposed to get those souls here in the first place!? You can't be trusted!" Sun crosses his arms.

Natana looks down at her feet. She mutters something to herself. Then Sun disappears.

"Sun!?" Moon gasps.

"You used Eraser!" Reaper yells. "You made him invisible!"

"Turn him back, god damn it!" Moon grabs Natana's rags. She waves her hand and Reaper and Moon find themselves back in the alleyway with the unconscious bodies of Christopher and Bonnie.

"My brother!" Moon cries.

Natana's voice echoes through Reaper's head, "_You will collect 99 souls and a witch's soul! I will be keeping watch! When you get them, I will bring you back to my prison! This assignment will be a win-win! I'll get my sister and my freedom and you will get your scythe back! Until then, I'll keep watch over him. Better hurry!_"Natana leaves the sobbing Moon and stunned Reaper alone in the alleyway.


	4. BlackStar's Assassination

**Return to the DWMA; An Unforgettable Homecoming Event!**

Two figures cloaked in black make their way through the sandy hills.

Reaper and Moon travel through the vast Nevada desert on their way to a place they haven't seen in months. After coming across a final hill, the former DWMA students see their destination. Death City.

A mass of white buildings with red roods clutter in the center of a great sand-box. A single, long highway exits the city to the right of where the soul collectors stand.

"Reaper," Moon asks. "Why didn't we just take the highway? My feet hurt from walking in this burning sand!"

"We don't want too many people to know we're going back to the DWMA!" Reaper explains. "If we were caught we'd be dead."

"Geez, are we really that hated?"

"No, but wouldn't that be mortifying for the two people who quit school to come crawling back on their hands and knees asking for help? Yeah!"

"I see what you mean," Moon sighs. "This is going to be difficult."

"I know! We just have to get in, get the information we need, and get out," Reaper cracks his knuckles. "We should get under the highway and make our way into the city from there."

"Why didn't we travel under the shade of the highway from the beginning!?" Moon yells.

* * *

Reaper, standing with his back to a white brick wall, waves his hand around the corner and quickly jerks it back out of sight. Moon, looking through top of a trash can, hops out and dashes over to Reaper. Reaper then ducks into an alleyway and pulls Moon with him. They scurry through the alley like mice. Reaper jerks Moon back behind a stack of cardboard boxes as a silhouette passes the opening at the other end of the alley. Reaper sighs in relief that they weren't spotted.

"We ain't getting anywhere sneaking through the alleys like this!" Moon complains.

"Shhhh!" Reaper snaps. "Keep your voice down. We aren't in the clear yet."

"I've got a better idea!" Moon flashes into his scythe form. "Now jam my blade into the wall!"

"Oh! I get it!" Reaper smiles. He swings the blade up over his head and slams it into a section of the wall. Reaper, using only his hands, pulls himself up onto the scythe and climbs up the handle. Grabbing the blade, Reaper swings himself higher and grabs a nearby windowsill.

Moon flashes back into human form and grabs Reaper's leg. He climbs up on his meister's shoulders and transforms into a scythe again. The blade gets lodged into another section of the wall, which Reaper climbs up on. With a final leap, Reaper pulls himself unto the building's roof and grabs his demon weapon as well. Moon flashes back to his human form.

"There, now we can see the whole city!" Moon says, gazing out at the even taller buildings around him. "Maybe we should get higher?"

"Good idea!" Reaper chuckles. He chucks Moon in scythe mode at a nearby building, impaling the wall. Reaper jumps to him and they repeat their climbing process until they reach the top of the tall brown building.

Reaper looks out over Death City. Off in the distance, the meister spies his destination, a place he hadn't seen in 9 months. The Death Weapon Meister Academy.

The DWMA is a large castle covered in skulls and candles. As noticed by… one person… the school is perfectly symmetrical. The front gate is a skull with three red thorns protruding from the eyes and nose. A pair of doors under the skull are covered by three columns that come down from skull. On either end of the skull are two smaller ones, each one facing slightly away from the gates. Next to each of those sculls is a small tower with a long wax candle sticking out of it. Both candles are lit with bright orange flames. Two towers on the back of the school also hold candles. Behind the skulls and candles are 6 black towers capped with red cones. On either end of the school is a tower similar to the 6 behind the skulls. Every tower is decorated with white bands and skulls with three points beneath them. All of this is raised up on a black and white, man-made plateau with a staircase leading up to gates.

The yellow sun hovering over the school turns its attention from some students entering the school to the ex-students, Reaper and Moon. It makes a wide grin and chuckles at them.

"I always hated that sun," Moon says. "It makes by brother sound like an idiot."

"I get what you talking about. An image of Sun usually pops into my head when someone mentions that sun," Reaper mutters.

"Me too," Moon looks away from the sun, obviously still down about his lost brother.

"Hey, don't worry. We can still get Sun… our Sun… back," Reaper puts a hand on his demon weapon's shoulder and looks up into the sky. "Isn't that right, Natana!? If we collect the souls you'll give us back our friend, right!?"

"It will be harder to get the souls now, though," Moon mumbles.

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean!?" Moon pushes his meister's hand off his shoulder. "We only have one scythe on her team! We can't perform our Soul Reaping Scissor technique! That was the only reason we were able to get those 54 souls in the first place!"

"Uh," Reaper blinks. "But… we still have plenty of single scythe techniques!" Reaper extends a finger and taps it with his other hand. "We've got Hammer Scythe! Wait… no… we need… two… ah-hem!" Reaper coughs awkwardly into his fist. He then snaps his fingers, "I got it! Copter Scythes!"

"Idiot! That has _scythes_ in the frickin' name!" Moon yells.

"Forget this!" Reaper counters. "If I say we'll be fine then god damn it we'll be fine! Let's just get inside!"

Moon sighs and mutters, "We'll have to wait. It's 7 o'clock; school is just starting."

"Okay. We'll wait for the students to get to class and then fly over to the school using our Copter _Scythe_ technique! And for the record, we have Witch Hunt as a possible technique."

"Sun was the only one of us that could perform Witch Hunt correctly!"

* * *

Spinning a white scythe over his head, Reaper soars over Death City towards their old school. As the meister and demon weapon approach the building, Reaper checks to see if any kids are on the platform holding up the school. The ringing of school bells tell him that class has started.

_kill kong kang kong_

The soul collectors touch down in front of the gates. "_Stairs are for squares!_" Moon chuckles. "_Yeah, I guess Copter Scythe will work… at least until we get Sun back._"

"That's the spirit!" Reaper says. "Now let's be as quiet as we can b…"

"Yha-hoo!" A high-pitched voice cries. Reaper perks his head up and jumps back out of the way as a boy crashes down where he once stood. He lands on one knee and one fist and with one fist on the ground. In each of his hands are curved, metal blades connected to each other with a long chain; a kasurigama.

"_Oh no frickin' way!_" Moon shrieks.

"You traitors have a lot of nerve coming hear after so long!" The boy flicks his blue, spiky, star-resembling hair back and looks up at Reaper with his small green eyes.

"Black*Star!" Reaper grunts.

Black*Star's funnel collar covers the lower portion of his face, but his goofy grin is still clearly visible. He wears a sleeveless black shirt decorated with lines of riveted grey material that wrap around his collar and the bottom of his shirt. He also wears big trousers colored white near the top and black near the bottom. Black*Star's boots and gloves have a small star drawn on it, and even his right shoulder has a tattoo of a star. The assassin gets to his feet and points one end of his chain scythe at Reaper. "So after all this time you've finally decided to came back to my school?"

"_Don't get in our way Black*__Star!_" Moon yells. "_We weren't planning on staying long!_"

"What do ya' think, Tsubaki? Should we let them pass?" The meister asks his weapon.

"_Ask them how many soul's they've acquired first!_" The kasurigama, Tsubaki, commands.

"That's none of your business!" Reaper answers pulling of his cloak.

"I'm going to guess it's not nearly as awesome as our soul collection!" Black*Star brags. "Because I am the great Black*Star!"

"_54!_" Moon yells.

"Damn it, Moon!" Reaper throws the white scythe to the ground. Moon flashes back to his human form.

"_No way!_" Tsubaki shouts. "_That can't be! We only have..._" Black*Star throws Tsubaki down to the ground. "_Black*__Star!_" In a flash of pale yellow, Tsubaki turns back into her human form. Tsubaki's black hair is tied in a ponytail nearly as long as her kasurigama form. A long strand of her hair falls between her indigo eyes and two strands fall over her ears. She is much taller than her meister and wears a star on the right side of her sleeveless pale shirt. She also wears a brown scarf, brown arm bands, and a brown stocking on her right leg. Her boots are a clean white color. The shirt also acts as a skirt, with the cloth hanging down on both the front and back.

"Look!" Reaper raises his hands. "We don't want any trouble. Just let us by and forget you saw us."

"Wait a second!" Moon interrupts. He points a finger at Tsubaki and Black*Star. "School already started! What are you two even doing here!?"

"We've been following you all morning!" Tsubaki grins.

"You've been stalking us!?" Reaper yells in disbelief.

"Rules of the assassin number one!" Black*Star recites. "Blend into the shadows... hold your breath... and wait for your target to let his guard down!"

"Screw you!" Moon spits.

Black*Star growls at Moon, "Do you want to die!? Your heads are wanted around here!"

"I... wha!?" Reaper raises an eyebrow.

"Corvis Reaper! Moon Tucker..." Tsubaki starts. "Hey! Where's Sun Tucker!?"

"I'm gonna kill you two!" Moon yells. His arm flashes blue and transforms into a white scythe blade.

"Moon! Calm down!" Reaper yells.

"Oh! You've asked for it!" Black*Star yells. "Tsubaki, Shuriken mode!"

"Wait! Are you sure you should be fighting out here again?" Tsubaki asks unsurely. "You remember what happened last time."

"What do you mean last time!?" Moon asks.

"Oh, that's right!" Black*Star snaps his fingers. "You haven't met Kid yet! You dropped out of the DWMA before he enrolled."

"I don't care who he is!" Moon shakes his head and bears his teeth. "And don't change the subject you lousy assassin!"

"How dare you!" Black*Star explodes. He grabs Tsubaki and shakes her around. "Tsubaki! Shuriken mode!"

"You're the meister," Tsubaki sighs. She flashes pale yellow and transforms into a large, silver and black star with a large hole in the center, which Black*Star uses the hold the large weapon. Each point of the shuriken has three dark grey grooves on one side and a dark grey edge on the other. Above the hole are two squinting yellow dots which are Tsubaki's eyes. "_But I don't like this!_" Tsubaki adds as Black*Star winds up to throw the ninja star.

"Let's take this asshole!" Moon completes his scythe transformation. Reaper reluctantly grabs hold of his white scythe.

_Moon approaches the piano in the Duet Concert Stage, now the Solo Stage. The angered demon weapon plops down on the bench without adjusting his coat and holds his hands over the keys._

"I don't like this either," Reaper sighs.

"You don't have to!" Black*Star yells. "Just DIE!" He hurls his demon weapon at Reaper.

"Oh god," Reaper groans. He watches as the spinning star rockets towards him. Reaper's grip on his white scythe tightens as we waits for the right moment to strike. As the shuriken nears Reaper he swings the scythe downward.

_Moon slams down on the deepest sounding chord he can play._

The blade of the scythe catches the hole in the center of the shuriken. Tsubaki is trapped spinning in midair, anchored in place by Moon's blade.

"_Oh!_" Tsubaki cries in alarm.

"Déjà vu!" Black*Star hits his forehead with his palm. "Remember when Mifune used this tactic!?"

"_Don't remind me!_" Tsubaki groans.

"Now what!? Reaper asks.

"_I don't know,_" Moon answers.

"I know!" The assassin yells. "Tsubaki, smoke bomb mode!"

The spinning shuriken shrinks down and disappears behind a cloud of black smoke. Reaper covers his mouth and nose to avoid breathing in the smoke bomb fumes.

"_She's gone!?_" Moon yells. "_Pull me out of the ground!_"

Reaper does so. The smoke clears, revealing Black*Star as he hurls one end of his kasurigama at Reaper. To avoid the blade, Reaper begins to twirl Moon rapidly.

"Copter Scythe!" Reaper declares.

_Moon cracks his knuckles and slides down to the upper register of the piano. He begins to play the fastest song he knows; Flight of the Bumblebee._

With the added energy from Moon's increased soul wavelength speed, the spinning white scythe begins to pull Reaper into the air. As soars high up into the sky as the chain scythe passes underneath him.

"I missed!" Black*Star yanks the other end of his weapon back to him. He quickly spins the end of the chain and thrusts it up into the air at Reaper.

"_Deflect it!_"_ Moon commands as he increases the tempo._

"Got it!" Reaper tilt his arms so the spinning blade it aimed at the kasurigama. Tsubaki becomes tangled around the white scythe.

_Yellow sparks fly from the piano keys. Moon shields his eyes from the intensity. He yelps, "Tsubaki's interfering with my playing! I can't keep us airborne!"_

Moon stops spinning and he and Reaper fall to the ground.

"Ha ha!" Black*Star laughs. "I have you now!" He pulls on the chain attempting to drag Moon back with him. Reaper hangs on tight to his partner as he is slowly dragged toward his enemy.

"_Reaper!_" Moon cries out as he's yanked out of his meister's hands. Black*Star reaches to catch the scythe. The scythe blade quickly flashes blue and Moon's head juts out of it. He bites down on Black*Star's hand.

Black*Star screams, "Ahhhh! That's not fair!"

"Life's not fair!" Moon says through clenched teeth.

The meister drops his kasurigama and places his free hand on Moon's head and tries to shove him off. When that doesn't work, he jabs Moon in the eyes.

"God damn it!" Moon shrieks. "Not cool!"

Moon flashes back to human form entirely and untangles himself from the kasurigama. He dashes over to his meister holding his hands over his eyes.

"How was that!?" Black*Star laughs, rubbing his hand.

"Oww," Moon walks into Reaper. "Crap."

"You okay, partner?" Reaper asks.

"I'll be fine when I'm back in weapon mode," Moon says as he transforms again.

Black*Star retrieves his weapon, "Alright Tsubaki, ninja blade mode!" The kasurigama transforms into a small dagger with a yellow and blade handle. "Now let's resonate!"

"_Watch out, Reaper! They're resonating!_" Moon warns.

"I can see that, idiot!" Reaper yells, quite annoyed with Moon.

"Speed*Star!" Black*Star yells as he suddenly dashes forward at Reaper with incredible speed.

Reaper shoves the end of his scythe into the ground and vaults over the assassin. In mid-air, Reaper slams Black*Star with his scythe hammer. Black*Star flies off of the edge of the long staircase. He falls out of view.

"Did we win?" Reaper asks as he lands and turns to face the stairs.

"_Guess so,_" Moon says. "_Where's my Easy Button?_"

Black*Star leaps to the top of the stairs and sprints at Reaper again. He skillfully sidesteps, extending a leg out to trip Black*Star. The assassin ends up on his face.

"You gonna stop yet!?" Reaper asks as he takes several steps back.

"Never!" Black*Star jumps to his feet.

"_I'm not stoppin' either!_" Moon yells.

Tsubaki flashes back to human form, "Maybe we should just stop?"

"Are you crazy!?" Black*Star says, filled with adrenaline. "I'm just getting started! Yha-hoo! These idiots haven't yet seen the full power of the great Black*Star"

A pair of figures reach the top of the DWMA staircase. Upon seeing them, Black*Star turns and quickly walks towards the front door. Tsubaki sees the figures as well and dashes to join her meister.

"_What the hell is wrong with you sissy!?_" Moon shouts.

"Grims!" Black*Star raises a hand. "See you around!"

Reaper turns around and sees the 12 year old boy and girl that struck terror into the assassin Black*Star.


	5. Grims

**Which Grims is Which?; The Odd Demon Weapon**

The boy's smile was the creepiest smile Reaper had ever seen.

His face is filled up with an anxious grin. "I sure love school!" He smiles. The boy's red hair fans out in all directions; the tip of the hair is black. Blue is the color of his left eye, and the right eye is a creamy yellow. His skin is very pale, as is the color of his shirt. The shirt has only a sleeve on his left side and is covered in black and green spots splashed randomly on the fabric. His jeans are ripped in several places, but only on his right leg. One of his sneakers is a darker shade of brown than the other.

The girl next to the odd colored boy is dressed a lot more neatly. She wears a white dress that falls to her knees. It's sleeveless and has two straps that come over her shoulders, each one tied off with a white bow. A picture of a skull with three points beneath it (like the ones that decorate the school) is featured on the front of her shirt. Her white slippers and stockings are neat and show now signs of dirt or mud that she may have stepped in. "Hurry up! Dr. Stein will flip if we're late. It's so not like us!" The girls tugs her friends arm out of his pocket.

The boys wipes away his smile and takes on a more laid-back face, "Take a chill-pill, girl! It's all koolios!"

Reaper frantically looks for a place to hide. Failing to find any place in the wide open schoolyard, he whispers for Moon to turn back into his human form. The children pass by the mysterious meister and demon weapon without flinching at the strange sight.

" 'Sup!" The boy gives a thumbs up to Reaper.

"You two had better hurry before you're too tardy!" The girl adds. "What's with the scythe?"

"_Oh… uh…_" Moon flashes back to his human form.

"Hey, cool!" The girls stops. "I'm not the only one is school who's _stark_!"

"Stark?" Moon puzzles.

"We've never seen you two before, who are you?" The girls pulls on her friend's arm and stops him. They are about half the size of the 16 year old Reaper and Moon.

"Uhhhh… I'm Moon Tucker," Moon says.

"And I'm Reaper. Corvis Reaper," Reaper adds.

"Nice to meet you," The girl says. "I'm a one-star meister, Janine Starkers, many people call me stark. Please don't. And this is my one-star demon weapon partner Cool Grims."

"Cool Grims, eh?" Moon restates. "That's a funny name. A nickname maybe?"

"No, bro!" Cool Grims says. "My name is _Cool Grims_! But you can call me Grims if you dig it!"

"Sure," Moon says with uncertainty.

"Say, Grims!" Janine says. "Why don't you introduce some of the family!?"

"Koolios!" Grims gives a thumbs up. His eyes suddenly begin to sag.

"I'd like to introduce you to Depressed Grims!" Janine says.

"Whatever," Grims sighs. His eyes then widen. "Who are you!? Janine, who the hell are these strangers!?"

"I'd also like introduce you to Frightened Grims."

"Crap! We're late for school!" Grims holds his hands to his head, covering his eyes. "Death's gonna kill us for this!"

"What's going on!?" Reaper asks. "Is Cool… or Depressed... or… I'm really confused! Is Grims alright!?"

"He's fine!" Janine assures. "They're all fine!"

"All?" Moon asks.

"Please don't tell them!" Grims start to cry. "They'll make fun of me!" He uncovers his eyes and glares at Reaper and Moon. His fingers flash with all the colors of a rainbow. They change shape until each of his 10 fingers become the barrel of a gun. "God damn it if you make fun of me I'll blow you freaking heads off!"

"You're bluffing!" Moon accuses.

"I'm not pulling SHIT!" Grims yells. "Now turn around and put your hands on your head!"

"Whoa, buddy!" Reaper waves his hands in front of his body. "We don't want any trouble!" All of Grims' fingers make a popping noise and several multicolored bullets rush out at Reaper's feet. After a quick dance, Reaper turns around and places his hands on his head.

"No! Gangster Grims! Stop!" Janine scolds.

Grims' fingers turn back to normal and he takes a deep breath, "Sorry, guys. That wasn't cool."

"S'okay!" Reaper slowly turns back around, the color drained from his face.

"Is it alright if I tell them?" Janine asks.

"If they promise they won't laugh," Grims mutters.

"We promise… just don't shoot at us again!" Reaper says.

"Well…" Janine looks down at her shoes, then at Grims. "Grims suffers from multiple personality disorder. He has 9 different personalities."

"Oh…" Reaper says, shocked.

"That's sucks!" Moon says, holding back a laugh.

"It's alright. I've gotten used to it. All these Grims, they're like part of my family. Heh…heheheh…hehehahahahaha… HAHAHAHAHAHAH!" Grims burst out with laughter.

"I've gotten used to it too," Janine says. She lets out a giggle too. "Crazy Grims is pretty funny actually. I'm the only one who understands Grims."

"I can see that!" Reaper says. "It seems to me like people are afraid of Grims. Black*Star ran from Grims. Black*Star!"

"They just don't understand him like I do!" Janine smiles. "Right, partner!"

"Yipidi-dipiti-do!" Crazy Grims chuckles.

"What kind of demon weapon does Grims turn into!?" Moon asks.

"You just saw!" Reaper says. "He turns into a gun!"

"Naw!" Grims shakes his hands and head. "Not Crazy Grims!" Grims flashes several different colors. "Crazy Grims go CHAINSAW!"

A spinning blade falls to the ground. Sure enough, Grims had transformed into a rumbling chainsaw. Its handle is white with black and green spots.

"_Like!?_" Grims asks.

"What the hell!?" Reaper gasps, covering his ears. "I was just shot at! How can you be a chainsaw all of a sudden!?"

"That's another great thing about my partner!" Janine yells over the sound of the saw. "His changing personalities allow his to turn into different weapons!"

In another multi-colored flash, the rumbling stops and the chainsaw is replaced with a spotted katana. The hilt and handle are red, tipped with black. "_Hai!_" The sword responds.

"See! I'm sure a couple of experienced soul collectors should know that the kind of weapon someone transforms into usually reflects their personality or something like that," Janine explains. "So Crazy Grims transforms into a wild chainsaw and Grims-san, his Japanese personality, transforms into a samurai sword!"

In third flash, Grims reappears in his human form. He bows, "Dōomou?"

"Pardon me?" Reaper asks.

"Sorry," Janine apologizes. "Grims-san doesn't speak to much English. He only knows a couple useless words."

"Hai!" Grims-san agrees. "Potato!"

"I see," Moon chuckles.

"That must be really helpful," Reaper points out. "Being able to transform into so many different kinds of weapons. You guys must have collected a ton of kishin eggs already."

"Actually," Janine shrugs. "We've only collected two so far."

"Oh."

"But we're in the E.A.T. classes!" Grims says, obviously taking on a different personality. "We just don't get to go on missions much. Lord Death thinks we're too young."

"Too young?" Moon asks. "You're not too young!"

"Moon, we didn't start collecting souls until 9 months ago," Reaper says.

"Oh yeah," Moon realizes.

"Well," Reaper claps his hands together. "This has been nice! But we need to go inside now!"

"Yeah," Moon adds. "Sorry we made to two late."

"No problem!" Janine says. "Really, Dr. Stein won't mind!"

"I blame Gangster Grims!" Grims throws his hands in the air.

"Okay!" Moon shrugs. The four of them make their way towards the front gates.

"Psst!" Moon whispers to his partner. "Which way was it again to Death's mirror!?"

"If you two need directions, we can guide you there!" Grims says.

"Grims! It's not polite to eavesdrop!" Janine scolds.

"No, it's alright!" Reaper says. "Guidance will be fine!"

"You obviously aren't students. Who are you?" Janine asks.

"We were students 9 months ago," Moon says. "You told us your story so we'll tell you ours."

"Koolios!" Cool Grims responds.

* * *

Grims, now with his anxious personality, and Janine lead Moon and Reaper to a large door, with a three pointed skull for a door knocker. The door is labeled, _Death Room_. They stop in front of it and turn to their new friends.

"Alright, here's the Death Room. The mirror is in here and down the hallway," Janine says.

"Thanks you two!" Moon says shaking Janine's hand.

Reaper offers a hand to Grims, "You two have been a big help."

"Oh it's no problem really it isn't don't worry about it don't sweat it you would have done the same for us it's cool good luck getting your brother back and collecting 99 souls and collecting a witch's soul and I hope you have a safe journey!" Anxious Grims babbles as he shakes Reaper's arm really fast.

"Thanks!?"

Reaper and Moon watch as their new friends pass by them and start down the hallway towards their classroom.

"Nice kids," Reaper says.

"Let's get this over with!" Moon approaches the door. "Think, Death will be happy to see us?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if we get a Reaper Chop or two," Reaper and Moon push of the door.

It doesn't budge. "What the?" Moon grunts. "A pull door maybe?"

They pull on the door and three figures fall through the doorway on top of Reaper and Moon.


	6. Reaper vs Reaper

**Moon and Reaper Meet Death the Kid; Soul Reaping Scissor!**

Grims and Janine turn when they hear the loud thud.

Three people, a short boy, tall girl, and short girl, smother Reaper and Moon. They look as surprised as Frightened Grims.

"What the hell are all of you doing here!?" The boy yells. "You should all be in class."

"I could asks you the same thing!" Moon says. The three new figures push themselves off of Reaper and Moon. The boy's hair is jet black with nice even strands of hair falling in front of his face. The left side of his hair is decorated with three long white stripes that wrap around to the center of the back of his head. He wears a nice black jacket adorned with white rectangular buttons that run up the front of the jacket and over his shoulders. Visible from under his jacket are the top of a white dress shirt and a three pointed skull where a tie would go. The fancy boy's dress pants and dress shoes are neat and also jet black. He glares at the students and ex-students with his yellow eyes.

To the boy's right is a small girl pointing and laughing, "Hahaha! Hullo Grimses!" The girl's neck-long, blonde hair is partially covered by her grey and blue cowboy hat. Her clothes are oddly revealing for a girl of her assumed age (she is not really a little girl but is actually in her teens). She wears a tight, red, turtleneck belly shirt along with a tiny white tie. She also wears puffy blue shorts and big black cowboy boots. She pushes her bangs away from her eyes, claps her hands and continues laughing at Frightened Grims' expense, "How are all of you!?"

"Patti. Calm down," The tall teenager on the opposite side of the boy groans. She wears cloths almost identical to Patti's, except for her pants (which are long jeans) and two silver bracelets on both her wrists. Her skin, unlike Patti's, is slightly tanned and her hair is a dark blonde and reaches down to her mid-back. She continues to scold Patti, "Grims really isn't all that funny."

It's when Crazy Grims bursts out laughing for no reason that she joins in.

"See, Liz!" Patti grins. "This kid is freakin' _hi-larious_!" Her voice cracks.

"Liz, Patti!" The boy yells placing his hands on his hips. "Get a grip!"

"Sowwy, Kid," Patti continues clapping for some reason.

"Death the Kid," Liz lets out a final chuckle. "You can be a real spoil-sport sometimes!"

"I won't have anyone laugh at one of my father's students! He may be horribly asymmetrical but he's a wonderful boy! He's got a lot of brains!" The boy, Death the Kid, cracks up as well.

"See what I mean, Reaper, Moon!?" Janine starts to tear up. She wraps her arms around her frightened friend. "Everyone is always so mean to poor Grims!"

Reaper raises a fist to the laughing trio, "Knock it off you three!"

Death the Kid stops laughing and examines Reaper. He starts his observations at Reaper's feet, then moves his eyes up Reaper's body until his stops at Reaper's head. He scowls, "Your hairstyle disgusts me!"

"Don't change the… wai… wha!" Reaper drops his fist in confusion.

"Everything about you is almost perfectly symmetrical! Why aren't you concerned that your hair isn't!?"

"I don't…"

"Just ignore him," Liz groans and silently mouths the letters _O, C, _and _D_.

Kid ignores Liz and approaches Reaper.

"Your boots," He says pointing down at Reapers feet. "Each one is the same silver color and each one has three flashing bulbs in the center and on the left and right of it."

Kid motions at Reaper's jumpsuit, "Your clothes are divided down the middle by a flashing stripe. Both sides are the same, with no markings or anything that would distinguish one from the other."

Finally, Kid grabs the spiky end of Reaper's hair, "But your hair is neat on one side and unkempt on the other! Either run some water through this or shave your head!" Kid pulls Reaper's hair.

"Owwwwowww! Who the hell do you think you are!?" Reaper yelps.

Kid releases Reaper and steps back. "I'm Death the Kid! Son of Death! And an outstanding Grim Reaper at that!"

"Hey! I'm a reaper too! I'm Corvis Reaper!"

Kid studies Reaper one last time. "I reject you as my sibling!"

"What!?" Moon yells. "You don't make any sense, kid! And I'm calling you _kid_, not you're name… Kid."

"Hullo!" Patti exclaims and introduces herself and Liz. "We're the infamous Thomson sisters!"

"Pleasure," Moon say sarcastically. He rubs his chin. "Now what were we just talking about?"

"Corvis' hair!" Kid raises his hand.

"No before that!" Moon turns his head slightly and notices Grims still wrapped in Janine's comforting arms. Moon snaps his fingers, "I remember! You jerks were making fun of Grims!"

"Oh yeah!" Patti claps her hands. "Funny funny Grimses!"

"Shut it, Patti!" Janine yells.

"Don't talk to my sister that way!" Liz yells. "What are you all doing here, anyway!?" Liz points a finger at Reaper and Moon. "For starters, I've never even seen you two at the DWMA before now! Who are you!?"

"We're Moon Tucker and Corvis Reaper!" Moon exclaims. "We're only here to talk to this kid's dad and then we're out of here!"

"What do you need with father!?" Kid asks.

"That's our business only," Reaper says.

"It's my father so it become my business as well!"

"He said it's _their _BUSINESS!" Gangster Grims yells from behind Moon. He flashes and transforms into a short, spotted revolver. "_Gun 'em down, my meister!_"

"I'm not going to shoot Lord Death's son!" Janine cries out. Grims clatters to the floor.

"But I will!" Moon scoops up Grims and takes aim.

"Hit the duck!" Patti yells as she, Liz, and Kid drop to the floor.

"It's either _hit the deck _or _duck_!" Kid corrects.

Moon pulls the trigger and sprays a wave of multicolored bullets wildly, the meister/weapon showing no accuracy.

Kid peeks up when the firing stops and gasps at the black markings left on the right side of the door behind him.

"You assholes!" He screams as he hops to his feet and embraces the door. "The beautiful door that lead to my father's Death Room! Ruined! It's not symmetrical anymore!" Kid falls to the floor and covers his head with his arms. "It's disgusting now! I can't stand to live knowing those precious doors are so disgusting! Damn it! Depressed! Die!"

"Get a hold of yourself, Kid!" Liz yells. "These strangers mean to kill! We have to stop them!"

"Riiiiiiiight!" Patti gives a random salute.

Kid wipes his nose, "You're right! We must avenge the doors!" Kid gets to his feet. "Turn into guns!"

Liz and Patti flash in a pink color and shrink down dramatically. They become two pink orbs and fly into Death the Kid's hands, rematerializing as two silver Beretta 92FS pistols. Kid holds them in a strange way, both pistols are turned sideways and his pinkie fingers are the fingers over the triggers. Kid points the pistols at Moon and pulls the triggers shouting, "FOR THE DOOR!"

Waves of pink bullets spray out of the two demon guns. Moon pulls Gangster Grims' trigger as well. Instead of bullets coming out, the gun explodes, knocking Moon back. The pink bullets miss Moon.

"Ahhhh! What happened!?" Moon yells as he scrambles to his feet.

"_Sorry to say, buddy! But I don't think our soul wavelengths are all that similar!_" Grims says. "_This isn't going to work! Janine, catch me!_"

Moon recoils as sparks fly from the gun. He yelps and lets go. Grims, still in his gun form, is flung into the air.

"That frickin' hurts, Grim!" Moon yells holding onto his hand. "I swear to god if you blast me with your soul wavelength again I'll kill you!"

"_Janine!?_" Grims yells with concern as he falls back towards the floor.

"I'm not shooting Death the Kid, Grims!" Janine stomps her foot.

"_I'll get another Grims out here! Just don't let me hit the floor! It won't be cool if I hit the floor._"

"Fine!" Janine runs to catch Grims. When the pistol hits Janine's hand it glows and transforms again. Janine now holds a rainbow swirled lollipop two times the size of her head.

"_Hi Janine!_" A tiny voice squeaks from the lollipop.

"Adorable Grims!?" Janine yells, annoyed with the lollipop. "I though Gangster Grims was getting someone to fight in his place!?"

"_We're actually fighting? I thought we were gonna play wrestle?_" Adorable Grims asks with a childish tone.

"Sorry, Grims!" Kid yells. "But you're in league with these traitors so you need to be taken down with them!"

"No!" Janine yells.

"Grims isn't in league with us!" Reaper protests. "And we mean no harm!"

"Shut up!" Kid yells as he pulls the trigger again.

"_Die!_" Patti yells as she and Liz spray another wave of bullets.

Reaper and Moon duck out of the way as the bullets speed towards the little meister.

"Janine!" Reaper shrieks.

Janine holds Grims up in defense, "Rainbow Shield!" The bullets hit the lollipop and bounce off again.

Kid suddenly stops shooting.

"_Kid! What's wrong?_" Liz asks.

"Look what she did!" Kid screams. Pointing at the bullet holes randomly scattered along the walls, ceiling and floor. "This place has lost all symmetry! Damn it! Depressed! Die!"

"Shooting at an innocent little girl!" Reaper runs at Kid. "You bastard!"

Reaper shoves Kid against the doors. He drops Liz and Patti.

"Symmetry killer!" Kid yells and knees Reaper between the legs. Kid is surprised to see that Reaper is unharmed.

"Ha!" Reaper laughs. "I'm wearing a…"

"Gross!" Liz yells as she grabs Reaper and attempts to pull him away from her meister. Patti joins her sister.

"Leave my partner alone!" Moon yells and jumps at Patti. He starts tugging on Patti, but a little higher than necessary.

"Pervert!" Patti yells and tries to shake him off.

"_Stop, guys!_" Adorable Grims yells. "_Fighting isn't good!_"

The hinges on the door buckle. After one final push from Reaper they collapse.

"NO!" Kid yells as he's crushed by Reaper, Liz, Patti, and Moon.

Moon pulls Patti off of Liz, who rolls off of Reaper. Reaper, seeing the damage he's caused, pushes himself off of Kid. The stunned Grim Reaper jumps to his feet and gasps at the door that has fallen away.

"This place will never be symmetrical." He mutters. "And it's all because of you."

The place they've fallen into is a long white path way floating in the clouds. Instead of walls and a ceiling there is sky. Other shapes float around in the sky like crosses and skulls. Several torii appear every now and then along the pathway, and the torii have a blade underneath them like guillotines.

"Do you know what this means?" Death the Kid grunts. "It means that I'm going to kill you!"

"You've said that like 100 times in the past 5 minutes!" Moon yells. He's still holding on to Patti tightly.

"Lemme go!" She screams, struggling to get out of Moon's embrace.

"Liz, Patti, let's show these symmetry killers what it means to feel pain!"

"Sounds good to me!" Liz says as she and Patti transform back into guns. Kid catches them but keeps them down at his sides.

"Moon," Reaper says. "I think you'd better transform as well."

"Good call!" Moon flashes blue and turns into a white scythe.

"_Soul Resonance!_" Kid and his partners declare. Kid closes his eyes and takes several deep breaths. In a blinding pink flash the tiny pistols are replaced with long cannons.

"Execution Mode ready!" Kid says, opening his eyes and glaring at his opponents. The metal cannons become Kid's arms. The outside side of each cannon is decorated with the three pointed skull, the points extend down the length of the cannons. Three black needles protrude from the back of Kid's arms. Those needles begin to spark with black energy.

"_Resonance stable!_" Liz informs. "_Noise at 0.8%!_"

Kid is shrouded in a black aura.

"_Black Needle Soul Wavelength fully charged!_" Patti adds.

"_I don't like the looks of this!_" Moon moans.

"_Get ready! Get ready to DIE!_" Patti laughs.

Kid crouches down and aims the barrels at Reaper.

"_Preparing to fire! Feedback in 4…_" Liz counts. Pink rings of energy wrap around the cannons and a large pink orb grows at the ends of them.

"What are they doing!?" Reaper cries, sweat pouring down his face.

"_I'm gonna guess we're going to get shot now!_" Moon sighs.

The energy at the end of the cannons splits into several smaller orbs. Most of those orbs are sucked back into the cannon, but many collect again to form two giant dark skulls that hover over the cannons.

"_3…_" Liz continues. The ends of the cannons begin to glow.

"Crap! Crap! Crap!" Reaper panics.

"Reaper! Catch!" Janine yells.

Reaper looks over his shoulder and sees the meister holding a scythe with a black and green spotted blade. She heaves the scythe around and tosses it through the door way. Janine ducks out of firing range.

"_Grims turned into a scythe!_" Moon exclaims to see the scythe, nearly the same size has himself, flying towards them.

"_2…_" Patti joins in the counting.

Reaper catches the scythe as Grims says, "_You said you used to fight with two scythe's right?_"

"_Should we try it?_" Moon asks. "_This is our first resonance._"

"Grims, do you play the piano?" Reaper says.

"_1!_" Liz finishes.

"Death Cannon, now!" Death the Kid declares.

As the rings and sparking needles cease to glow, a thick yellow beam of energy fires out of the cannon. The recoil sends Kid sliding back several feet. The energy collects into a single ball and speeds towards their target.

"_That doesn't look too bad!_" Moon laughs. "_It's just a tiny ball!_"

"You idiot! That _tiny ball _pushed Kid back 7 feet! It's got to be worse then it looks! _Soul Resonance!_" Reaper declares.

_"Hurry hurry!" Moon yells as he rushes towards the concert grand piano. Grims follows, wearing a white tuxedo with black and green spots._

_"Don't worry, I can play," Grims says as he takes a seat at the lower register of the piano. "I'm actually pretty good. Try to harmonize with me."_

_Grims' fingers slam onto the piano. He begins to play the most marvelous music ever heard by Moon or Reaper._

Immediately, Reaper can feel Grims' wavelength vibrate through his soul. He smiles at the soothing notes.

_Moon takes a seat and plays as well, finding it easy to harmonize with Grims. He plays a simple tune, just in a magnificent way. This makes it easy for Moon to jump into his song. Lights of all different colors swirl around the Duet Concert Stage._

Both of Reaper's scythes begin to glow, Moon is blue and Grims is constantly changing hues. Reaper twirls his scythes into a position to be swung.

"SOUL REAPING SCISSOR!" Reaper yells as he swings both scythes in front of his body. The blades cut through the energy ball from Death Cannon, releasing the soul waves stored inside. One half flies up into the sky and the other half hits the ground at Reaper's feet, exploding. The meister disappears behind a wall of skull shaped smoke.

"_We did it!_" Patti shrieks.

"We… did!" Death the Kid pants.

"_What are we going to do with the bodies?_" Liz asks.

"If those people were harboring kishin eggs we won't have to worry about bodies." Kid smiles. "We have three more souls for our col..."

Suddenly, Reaper jumps through the vapor, scythes raised to attack.

Kid shields his body by intercepting the white scythe with both cannons. Reaper grunts and swings his spotted scythe over Kid's head. With the flat side of the blade, Reaper hits Kid on top of his head. The Grim Reaper collapses unconscious.

"_Kid!_" Liz shrieks. "_Are you alright!?_"

"_Kid!?_" Patti yells as she flashes back to her human form. Liz does the same. Kneeling, Liz puts one hand over Kid's back.

"Who are you!?" Liz yells.

"Corvis Reaper, Moon Tucker, and Grims!" Reaper smiles pointing one scythe towards each girl. "Scythe extrordinaires!"


	7. Lord Death's Assignment

**Meeting with Death; Who to Replace Death the Kid?**

Blood dribbles down Death the Kid's chin as he lay unconscious.

Patti glares at Reaper and his demon scythes.

Liz stands up, "We can still fight! Right, Patti!?"

Patti answers with a furious screech and turns back into a gun. Liz catches her, cupping one hand under the gun and the other over the trigger. Liz starts shooting pink bullets at Reaper.

"_Let's keep up our resonance!_" Moon yells.

"Right!" Reaper responds as he holds Moon and Grims in a way that the blades cross in front of him like an "x".

_Grims and Moon continue their song. Moon keeps close attention to where Patti's bullets are. A split second before they make contact with the scythes, Moon stomps down on the third petal beneath the piano, cutting off the sound._

Reaper declares, "Wavelength Snare!"

The bullets hitting the scythe blades disappear without a trace.

_"Start again!" Moon calls to Grims. Immediately after the bullets disappear, Grims and Moon continue playing. The piano begins to glow pink._

"What was that!?" Liz gasps.

"Wavelength Snare is a scythe technique Moon and I created," Reaper explains.

"_Reaper and I create a gap in our soul wavelengths and then fill it when our opponent strikes the blades, trapping them at the mercy of our synchronized soul wavelengths!_" Moon finishes.

"_What does that all mean!?_" Patti asks.

"Usually this technique is used against physical attacks," Reaper says. "But in this case, we've trapped your bullets inside the scythe blades!"

"_And now we can send your bullets right back at you!_" Grims states.

"_You catch on quick!_" Moon says. "_Which Grims are you?_"

"_Composed Grims! The neutral Grims! We met earlier!_"

"Good to see you again!" Reaper says as he pulls the scythes out of their "x" formation. He then slams Grims into the ground.

_"Hit a chord!" Moon commands Grims to do. The other demon weapon slams down with three fingers causing the piano's glowing to dim._

Pink bullets shoot out of the spotted scythe blade. Liz jumps to the side as the bullets topple the torii behind her.

Reaper swings Moon next, spraying bullets that are also evaded by Liz.

"Knock it off!" A voice yells from behind the fallen torii. Tsubaki raises from her hiding place. Black*Star jumps out as well.

"And you're the one always telling me I'm an awful assassin!" He stomps his feet in a fit. "You just gave away our position and ruined an awesome performance!"

"_Black*__Star!_" Moon cries. "_Why can't you leave us alone!?_"

" 'Cause I was afraid something like this would happen!" Tsubaki tightens her fists. "I just knew the hot headed Moon Tucker would get into another fight! So Black*Star and I have been clinging on to this torii listening to you kill each other!"

Janine pops her head out from behind the doorway, "So... can we just call it day yet?"

"Yeah! Can we!?" Reaper lets Grims and Moon fall back to the ground. They flash back into their human form.

"You know Grims! I misjudged you!" Black*Star compliments. "You're a kick-ass demon weapon!"

"Thanks!" Grims smiles. "First nice acknowledgement I've gotten in a while."

"And you weren't so bad yourself, stark!" The assassin points at Janine. "Nice Rainbow Shield!"

"Uhhh... We could do without the _stark_ name," Janine smiles with one eyebrow raised. "But still... thanks."

"We'll now that we've gotten that out of the way," Liz grunts. "I'm going to blast these guys off the earth!"

"That won't be necessary," A voice says from behind Janine.

They all turn around to see that a man has suddenly appeared. He's very tall and wears a long white lab coat that has obviously been torn up from time to time; it has long zigzagging stitched running across it. Under his lab coat is a brown turtleneck shirt that also is covered in stitching and patches. His face is also stitched under his right eye. The man also wears big round glasses and has short, ruffled silver-grey hair. Oddly, a large grey bolt runs through the side of his head. He quickly twists the screw on his right temple. The man also holds a cigarette in his mouth.

Janine jumps in surprise, "Dr. Stein!? It's not what it looks like!"

"So it's not bullet holes, damaged property, and _dead the Kid_?" Dr. Stein asks keeping a calm, nearly monotone voice.

"Hehehe," Reaper awkwardly chuckles. "He's not dead."

Dr. Stein raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah, he's not dead," Grims smiles. "I just have a really sturdy blade."

Stein shakes his head, "Grims, I expected better from you. Your behavior is worse then Gangster Grims."

"I'm busted, aren't I?" Grims asks, now with sagging eyes.

"You're busted," Stein restates.

"Thought so," With incredible speed, Grims swipes Patti out of Liz's hand and holds the barrel to his head.

"Grims NO!" Reaper yells and reaches a hand out at him, trying to grab the gun before he did the unthinkable.

Grims pull's Patti's trigger firing the gun into his temple. He falls onto his side as a pink blast erupts from the barrel. Patti snickers.

"DEPRESSED GRIMS!" Janine cries out in horror.

Patti turns back into her human form, still giggling to herself.

"Why didn't you stop him, Patti!?" Moon yells and grabs Patti's tie, tugging it violently.

"Relax," Liz smiles. "Grims isn't dead."

"Wha!?" Reaper sniffs.

"Frickin' hurts!" Grims groans from the ground.

"Demon pistols don't shoot actual bullets," Dr. Stein explains, puffing smoke. "They condense their meister's soul wavelengths and fire that instead."

"Excuse me!?" Moon butts. "Who do you think _you _are giving us lectures when we're in the middle of this situation!?"

"I'm a professor at the DWMA," Dr. Stein tilts his head back so his glasses tilt as well. His cold eye glare at Moon. "Giving lectures is my job, and I'm sure you're not in any of my classes."

"You don't want to mess with him," Janine nudges Moon and whispers. "Dr. Franken Stein was one of the strongest meisters to ever graduate the Death Weapon Meister Academy."

"You're kidding?" Moon responds.

"He doesn't even need a demon weapon to beat you up," Janine whispers even quieter then before.

"He doesn't!?" Moon gasps.

"No I don't," Dr. Stein says. "But lucky for you I don't like to attack students, so just follow me and I won't have to." Dr. Stein pushes past the students and steps over the torii. "You too Liz, Patti, Black*Star, and Tsubaki."

"Fine!" BlackStar groans and shoots a glare at everyone else.

"We were going to see Death anyway, jackass!" Moon yells at Dr. Stein.

"Moon!" Janine shrieks and jumps to cover Moon's mouth.

Dr. Stein stops, then turns and leaps at Moon, hand outstretched, "Soul Purge!" Moon is shoved away from Janine.

Green sparks fly from Dr. Stein's hand as Moon grunts and falls over unconscious.

"I'll get him. Sorry, Dr," Reaper bends down and grabs Moon's arms.

"All of you. Come with me," Dr. Stein says sternly.

Liz and Patti grab and drag Kid, Janine helps Grims to his feet, Reaper heaves Moon onto his back, and they all follow Dr. Stein down the hallway.

* * *

The hallway ends with a small stairwell and a mirror resting on a round platform. The mirror has three candles attached to the top of it and has a three pointed skull above it. Upon reaching the mirror, Moon wakes up and rolls of off his meister.

A figure appears in the mirror. The figure is draped in a jagged black cloth. No human-like appendages can be seen on the figure. Its mask resembles the many three pointed skulls that decorate the school.

"What's going on!?" The figure asks with concern. "I could hear gunshots all the way from here!"

"Lord Death," Dr. Stein motions to Reaper and Moon. "That soul keeper you've been watching has returned."

"Ahhhh! Good! Good!" Death says.

"Watching!?" Reaper says stunned.

"Yes, Mr. Reaper!"

"Yoi Tsuitachi, Shinigami-sama!" Grims-san greets.

"Hi! Hello! How are you!?" Death returns the greetings. "Janine, why aren't you two in class?"

"Sorry, Lord Death!" Janine says. "We got held up helping Reaper and Moon."

"Yes I can see that," Death sighs.

"Watching!?" Reaper repeats.

"Oh yes, sorry," Death stammers. "Let's get back on track."

"What do you mean you've been watching us!?" Moon asks. "You mean like to… punish us for quitting school."

"No of course not," Death says. "I've been keeping my eye on the three… well now two of you… to make sure you'll be safe on your own. And I was right! You, Moon, and Sun made an excellent team!"

"So… you saw what happened to Sun after we killed Orgog?" Moon asks.

"Yes. So sorry about that," Death says.

"So you know where we can the prison Sun's being held in!?" Moon asks hopefully.

"Prison? No. I don't know anything about a prison," Death says. "I just saw the three of you disappear and two of you reappear a minute later."

"A minute? We were at that prison for way longer than that! Maybe 20 minutes or so? Natana did say time worked differently at that prison."

"Who's Natana?" Death asks.

Reaper explains about what happened to them when they were captured by Natana. Death wears a mask, so it's difficult to tell if anything Reaper says is shocking, sad, or mysteries to him. His emotion mainly comes from his voice.

"I've never heard of such a prison," Death finally says. "Nor have I heard of a witch named Natana."

"Damn," Moon mutters.

"But if what you say is true, I'm not so sure you should continue hunting souls."

"What!?" Reaper shouts. "No!"

"We have to get Sun back!" Moon adds.

"Think about this. A demon weapon locked in a maximum security cell. It's obviously hoping to become a demon sword with this Natana person as her meister. Or worse, this witch wants to become a kishin, which is why it was locked in the prison."

"But Natana said she and her sister were thrown in that prison just because they were witches!" Moon says. "They didn't do anything wrong!"

"Natana's sister may not be a witch. I've never heard of a witch who had a kishin egg for a soul. Might be a rare kind of mixed soul? Who knows, and I don't think it's wise to get involved in any way. This kishin witch… heh, clever name… is locked up tight where it can't hurt anybody. We should leave it."

"But…" Reaper starts.

"Either you two relinquish your soul collection to me or you two stop collecting souls!" Death booms. "I'm quite sure that if I let you just leave you would help free the kishin, or get yourselves killed in the process!"

"Bu…" Reaper tries again.

"But what are we supposed to do with our lives without our brother or our ability to hunt souls!?" Moon yells.

"You could hunt souls and bring them straight here?" Death offers. "Yes, that sounds nice! You can take missions and then bring the kishin eggs you take back to me!"

"But what about becoming a death scythe?" Moon asks.

"LORD DEATH! A voice cries out. A man pushes through the crowd around Death's mirror. How has long red hair and wears a black blazer, slacks, shoes, and an olive green shirt. He also wears a long black tie shaped like a _cross_. "Have you found my babe yet!?"

"Yes, Spirit. We have found Maka," Death informs. "Sorry kids. Just give me a moment."

"Where's my Maka!?" The man, Spirit, cries.

"We found that she and her partner were dragged into a grave in Hook Cemetery," Dr. Stein informs. Reaper jumps when hears heard him talk, since he had been standing silently for the past couple minutes.

"My Maka has been buried alive!?" Spirit shrieks.

"Spirit! Calm down!" Death yells. "When we checked the grave we found it empty. There wasn't even a cadaver in the coffin."

"I've been studying the grave thoroughly," Dr. Stein says. "Which is why I came down here. I suspect that they may have been pulled beneath the grave."

"I'm… I _was _one step ahead of you, Dr. Stein," Death turns his attention to the group of children. Spirit sees the Thompson sisters struggling to hold up Death the Kid.

"What happened to Kid?" Spirit asks.

"I was going to send him out to find your lost daughter but they were… unable to," Death sighs.

"Maka's missing!?" Moon screams.

Spirit squints at Moon, "I… remember you!"

"Heh," Moon gives an awkward smile.

"You're that asshole that sneaked into the girl's shower room and saw my Maka _naked_!" Spirit grabs Moon's jumpsuit collar.

"Moon?" Reaper raises an eyebrow.

"Spirit!" Death threatens. "I will Reaper Chop you if you don't let go of this boy!" A big blocky fist extends from Death's cloak.

"Sorry!" Spirit yelps and releases Moon. Death's hand retracts into his black cloak.

"Okay!" Janine yells. "Let's all calm down. Lord Death, what do you mean _unable to_?"

"I _was_ going to send my son and his partners out to retrieve Maka," Death explains.

"But we knocked him out," Reaper glances over at Death the Kid, who was just dropped on his head by Liz and Patti.

"Yeah, you did," Death says. "That's why you and _both _your scythes will take Kid's place in this mission."

"Both!?" Moon asks. "So Grims is coming too?"

"And since Janine is his proper meister she'll be tagging along."

"Sweet," Janine rolls her eyes. "Good job Gangster Grims."

"Yeah that guy's a bastard," Anxious Grims chuckles. "Now let's go go go! I'm so excited!"

"Yes, yes you are," Janine groans.

"Yeah. Hi," Black*Star gives a small wave to Death. Death turns to him.

"Oh yes, I almost forgot about you and Tsubaki," He says. "You two will be going on this assignment as well."

"What!? Why!?" Tsubaki asks.

"Well, you felt it was alright to skip class. So I guess you want to go as well instead of going to class?"

Black*Star sighs, "Thanks you guys."

"Now, before you guys go," Death says. "There are some other issues that need to be discussed. Corvis, you and Moon have been in two fights since you got to the school. I don't know if you remember, but there's a rule about that. If two meisters get into a fight they need to have a witness. Who are your witnesses?"

"Well..." Reaper stutters. "I guess Black*Star and Tsubaki are our witnesses for our second fight. The first fight... uhh."

"Grims and I saw their fight with Black*Star!" Janine says.

"Alright then," Death says. "Now, there are some souls that don't belong to you, Corvis."

Reaper shakes with fear of being accused of committing murder, "We didn't kill those people!"

"I know you didn't," Death says. "But you can't keep them."

"Why not?" Moon asks.

"Because you'll turn into a demon sword," Death answers.

"It's just 5 souls!" Moon complains.

"Every soul counts! Even if you cheat and use just _one _human soul, that kind of dark and twisted behavior is enough to make you dark!"

Moon looks down at his feet.

"I thought not. Dr. Stein, if you will?" Death says.

"Of course," Dr. Stein replies. He quickly dashes forward and presses his palm against Reaper's back, "Soul Purge!"

Reaper's muscles stiffen as he falls forward. Everyone else in the room gasps and freezes.

"Sorry, friend," Death says. "But I figured you might have run from this."

Dr. Stein catches Reaper before he hits the ground, pulls him around and reaches a hand into the soul keeper's soul stripe.

"Whoa!" Grims yells. "That's not part of his shirt!?"

"No," Reaper grunts. "I'm a soul keeper. I wear my soul stripe proudly."

"A very rare ability indeed," Dr. Stein says. "A soul keeper is able to store souls inside of his own. This soul stripe is the exit port from the soul."

"We fought a soul keeper?" Patti asks.

"Imagine if we killed him!" Liz exclaims. "It's be like killing an endangered species."

"This boy is far from an animal," Death says.

"I'm lost," Spirit holds a hand to his head. "I think I'm just gonna go to CupaCabra's." He walks passed the kids and heads down the long hallway. "Good luck, guys. Bring my daughter back or else I'll kill you!"

"That Spirit," Death sighs.

"I've been to CupaCabra's before," Moon smiles.

"Go figure," Patti groans.

"For the music," Moon blushes.

Dr. Stein pulls his hand out of Reaper. He holds 5 small, glowing orbs.

"That hurt," Reaper moans.

"My apologies," Dr. Stein backs away and puts the souls in his pocket.

"Now," Death says. "Tonight you'll all head to Hook Cemetery and investigate that grave. You are dismissed."


	8. The Kishin Wasteland (First Part)

**Scare at Hook Cemetery; Buried Beneath the Blank Grave**

"I still can't believe Death took all those souls from us!" Moon cries.

"Moon, calm down," Reaper says. "He only took 5!"

"But still… we worked hard for those souls!"

Reaper sighs. He, Moon, Frightened Grims, Janine, Black*Star, and Tsubaki approach a creepy looking iron gate. Above the gate, written in wavy letters, is the title, _Hook Cemetery_.

"Shut up, Moon," Black*Star snaps. "You have no reason to be upset. You dragged Tsubaki and me down here with you."

"Oh please!" Moon groans. "It's not our fault you two are here. You decided to ditch class to stalk us."

"That was Tsubaki's damned idea!" The assassin growls.

Black*Star grunts and punches the gates. They swing open and jerk back at him. He catches them before they slam into him and pushes them back.

Ahead of the group, a thick fog covers the terrain. Hook Cemetery at night is creepier than it is during the day. The grinning crescent moon above the bone yard smiles down at them, blood seeping through its teeth. The cemetery's trees all lean off in the same direction. Fishing lines and hooks hang out of the trees.

"It's been so long since I've visited the cemetery," Moon says, straining to see through the fog and darkness. He takes a step forward and trips over a rock.

Tsubaki snickers into her fist.

"What was that, Black*Star!?" Moon grunts. "Asshole!"

"Oh come on guys!" Janine shouts. "If we're going to be a team we're going to have to work like a team! Moon, that wasn't even Black*Star!"

"Whoops," Moon climbs to his feet.

"Maybe we should just g... g... go back," Frightened Grims stutters.

"Wimp!" Black*Star yells. "Maybe _you _should go back. You've got a lot of brains, you can tell when there's danger afoot. And yes, I stole that joke from Kid!"

"Black*Star that was harsh!" Janine says.

"And you should leave too, stark! Take Mr. stark with you too, he's annoying!"

"Black*Star!" Tsubaki yells. "Knock it off! Why are you being to mean!?"

"I don't need any of these misfits to find Maka and Soul!" Black*Star grins and points to himself with his thumb. "I am the great Black*Star!"

"No! Tsubaki's right!" Moon says. "It's going to take our combined efforts to save Maka!"

"And Soul," Janine adds.

"This is going to be a tough mission and we may only have time to save Maka!" Moon continues. "But we might be able to rescue Soul as well if we work together!"

"In a strange way," Reaper says. "That was an inspiring speech!"

"Fine," Black*Star throws his hands up in defeat. "I'll stop with the insults for a while!"

"Sounds good," Janine says. "Let's go. The grave they were pulled in is on the other side of the cemetery."

"T... t... the other s... s... side!?" Grims yelps. He flashes the colors of a rainbow and clatters to the dirt in the form of a black and green spotted boomerang.

"Frightened Grims turns into a boomerang?" Tsubaki asks.

"_This way I'll always come back to my meister if I get separated!_" Grims explains.

"Good idea, Grims!" Reaper says. "All demon weapons here should transform in case Maka and Soul's captors are lurking around."

"_L... l... lurking!?_" Frightened Grims stammers. Janine scoops him up and pats the boomerang.

"Sure thing!" Moon says and transforms into his scythe form.

"Tsubaki, Kasurigama mode!" Black*Star commands. His partner transforms into the chain scythe.

"_W... w... wait, guys!_" Frightened Grims cries. "_I have to use the bathroom!_"

"Grims!" Black*Star yells. "Can you just change personalities!?"

"_I'll try!_" Grims flashes again and becomes a spotted katana. "_Kono subarashī, Burakku__Sutā-kun?_"

"Wha..." The assassin raises an eyebrow.

"_Hai,_" Tsubaki says to Grims-san. "_Kare wa sore de kekkōdesu._"

"_Hai!_" Grims-san responds.

"What did he say?" Reaper asks.

"_Not important,_" Tsubaki says. "_Let's go. I'll translate for Grims._"

The group disappears into the darkness of Hook Cemetery.

* * *

"So this is the grave, right?" Reaper asks.

The group is standing in front of a headstone shaped like a cross. It has no inscription and the soil by it looks untouched.

"It should be," Janine says.

"_But it doesn't look like anything has been here except for us!_" Tsubaki points out.

"That doesn't mean nothing strange has been going on here!" Black*Star exclaims. "Let's start digging!" Black*Star gets down on his knees and starts hacking at the dirt with his kasurigama like it's a pickaxe.

"_Black*Star!_" Tsubaki shrieks. "_I'm not a shovel!_"

"But what choice do we have!? You can't turn into a shovel! Moon can't turn into a shovel! Grims, do you have a personality that can turn into a shovel!?"

"_Burakku*__Sutā! Modoru, isoide!_" The katana yells.

"I thought not!" Black*Star says.

"_Black*Star! He said to get back!_" Tsubaki yells.

"Get back?" The meister asks.

A small mound of dirt in front of the grave cracks and spits open. A muck covered hand reaches up out of a hole in the earth.

Black*Star yelps and jumps to his feet.

"What the heck is that!?" Janine squeals.

"Should I swing?" Reaper motions towards his scythe.

"w_...t..._" A muffled voice calls under the ground. "_it... s...l..._"

"_It can talk!?_" Moon gasps. "_What kind of zombie is this!?_"

"_Zombies can talk._" Tsubaki says. "_We would know._"

"You never met Sid!" Black*Star says. "You quit the DWMA before he reanimated!"

"_it... s...l..._" The voice repeats. The fingers twitch.

"What's it saying?" Reaper asks.

"_h...ly sh..._" The voice says impatiently.

"_Zonbi wa, "Sore wa chūi o shiyō shite Sōru Ītā, shinseina tawagotoda!" to itte iru!_" Grims-san yells.

"Tsubaki, translate." Janine says.

"_Grims says that the zombie is saying that it's Soul!_" Tsubaki says. "_And he's swearing at us._"

"Soul Eater would never swear at his friends!" Black*Star shouts. "Reaper, chop it off!"

"_n... no no n... n... n... no no no n..._"

"_Ueito nashi!_" Grims shouts. He flashes back to human form and grabs the hand sticking out of the ground.

"Grims stop!" Janine yells.

"Sore wa chūi o shiyō shite _Sōru Ītā_, shinseina tawagotoda!" Grims restates, pointing at the hand.

"_Guys, Grims is certain that this is Soul!_" Tsubaki turns back to her human form as well.

"Do you guys know what this means!?" Black*Star gasps. "Soul's been turned into a zombie!"

"KARE WA ZONBIDE WA ARIMASEN!" Grims-san explodes.

"_And if Soul is a zombie!_" Moon turns back to human form. "That means that Maka is sure to be one as well!" Moon bursts into tear mumbling _we're too late! Too late!_

"KARE WA ZONBIDE WA ARIMASEN!" Grims tugs on the hand as hard as he can in frustration pulling a boy out of the ground.

The boy glares up at everyone with his red eyes and pushes his white hair back to its original, side swept position, also brushes the dirt out of it. He wears a grey head band that says _soul _on the left side and displays a circular mouth of fangs on the right side. His black and yellow jacket is covered in dirt.

"It's not a zombie Soul! It's Soul!" Black*Star hugs his friend.

"You idiot! Pull me out!" Soul bares his jagged teeth at Black*Star.

He and Reaper help Soul out of his grave.

Soul's maroon pants and shoes the same color as his jacket are also brown with dirt. Soul brushes most of the dirt off of his clothes and buttons the top of his jacket back up.

"Thanks Black*Star and... Grims?" Soul says.

"Un! Kon'nichiwa Sōru Ītā!" Grims says.

Soul looks up at Reaper and Moon. Soul rubs his eyes and takes a second look, "Am I seeing this right!? Corvis Reaper and Moon Tucker are standing right there, right? No way!"

"Good to see you again, Soul!" Reaper smiles.

"What are you guys doing back here, and where's Sun?"

"Long story!" Moon bursts out. "But the more important thing is, where's Maka!?"

"Are you kidding me!?" Reaper laughs. "You're an idiot!"

"Maka!" Soul exclaims. "I'll have to explain on the way! Everyone, follow me!"

"Wait, we have to go down under the grave!?" Janine asks.

"Sorry, a stark like you might not be able to," Soul shrugs. "You might get dirty."

"Why does everyone call her stark!?" Moon says. "I wear all white too!"

"No… I'll go!" Janine says.

"Fine. It may be a tight squeeze, guys. We have to crawl around the coffin. Tsubaki, maybe you should go into your ninja sword mode? It's your smallest transformation."

"Why?" Tsubaki puts her hands on her hips. "Are you saying I might get stuck? Are you saying I'm fat!?"

"No! I'm saying that you and any demon weapons that can turn into a small weapon should do so," Soul informs. "Grims, what's the smallest weapon you can turn into?"

"Grims can turn into a bag of firecrackers," Janine says. "But…"

"But what?"

"It's Anxious Grims who turns into that."

"Anxious Grims?" Black*Star repeats. "Isn't he the blabbermouth!?"

"Hai," Grims-san rolls his eyes.

"Should we still try it?" Janine asks.

"If you can get him to shut up," Soul says. "We don't want anyone knowing I escaped."

Soul takes a deep breath and holds it. He ducks into the hole he created. Black*Star along with Tsubaki follows him. Grims, after switching from personality to personality looking for Anxious Grims, transforms into a small black and green spotted bag assumed to be filled with a never ending supply of firecrackers. Janine hooks the bag onto her dress and jumps into the hole. Reaper and Moon (still in human form) follow in the rear.


	9. The Kishin Wasteland (Last Part)

**Necromancer Juniana; The Portal to the Kishin Wasteland**

Lord Death is joined by Dr. Stein in the Death Room.

The room is almost entirely empty, except for a few tombstones that form a large circle around the three men. Windows floating in midair are really the only features in the Death Room. Death the Kid lays unconscious behind the men, with Liz and Patti hunched over him trying to wake him up. They gaze into a mirror that resembles the one in the torii filled hallway. In the mirror they see Hook Cemetery, and the meisters and weapons climbing after Soul Eater under the blank grave.

Sprit comes running passed Liz and Patti, "Did you find my Maka yet!?"

"Not yet," Dr. Stein says.

"You had all day to do so!" Spirit yells.

"I found some invisible force was keeping me out when I dug into the grave earlier," Stein explains. "Since your daughter was spotted being taken at night I concluded that the barrier only opens at night to keep unwanted visitors out."

"I see," Sprit says. When Moon jumps down into the hole, the mirror stays focused on the grave. "Lord Death, focus the mirror's gaze into that hole!"

"That I cannot do," Death says.

"What do you mean?" Spirit asks.

"Like the prison that Reaper and Moon described to me, I cannot see into that hole," Death explains. "That barrier is keeping me from peaking into that grave. I sense a connection between this place and the supposed prison the witch Natana is trapped in."

"So this means the children are on their own?" Dr. Stein asks.

"I'm afraid so," Death turns away from the mirror. "We'll just have to wait and see how this ends up."

* * *

Moon sucks in the dry air underneath the blank grave. He joins the rest of the group in the uncomfortable coughing fit that follows.

"It will take a minute for you guys to get used to the rancid air down here," Soul informs.

"No kidding!" Moon chokes.

"The great Black*Star will not succumb to you, poison air!" Black*Star states.

"Keep your voice down, we don't want to get caught!" Soul snaps.

"Where are we?" Janine coughs. They all came out of a hole in the roof of a cavern carved in the dirt. The cavern is very small and a second hole is on the floor across from where the students are.

"I'm not entirely sure where this place is, but I do know that once we drop through that second hole," Soul motions towards it. "We won't be in Hook Cemetery anymore."

"_What do you mean?_" Tsubaki asks.

"I don't know how to explain it properly but that hole is a portal to hell, the Kishin Wasteland," Soul says. "Reaper are you alright?"

Reaper is bent over with his hands on his knees. Reaper lets out a dry heave and gives a thumbs up.

"Good. Let's keep going. I'll explain our situation down there," Soul heads toward to hole.

"_Shouldn't we discuss a plan while we're still up here?_" Anxious Grims asks.

"No time!" Soul turns back. "My meister is down there! Maka needs help!"

"Soul, why are you and Maka here is the first place?' Black*Star asks.

Soul pauses for a moment, obviously pained about their predicament.

"Soul?"

"The necromancer!" Soul blurts out.

"_The what?_" Grims asks.

"Maka and I were kidnapped by a necromancer named Juniana!"

"Aren't necromancers witches who raise the dead?" Janine asks.

"This isn't a normal necromancer, though. Juniana was raising the dead alright, but it was reanimating the evil humans that Maka and I hunted."

Tsubaki gasps, "_So you mean..._"

"Yeah. I lost my soul collection to her," Soul mutters.

"This doesn't make sense," Reaper says after getting over his dry heaves.

"The necromancer has been pumping the souls out of my stomach. Literally, prying those souls out of me and reforming them."

"So where's Maka?" Moon asks.

Another pause from Soul, then he says, "With The One of **Black** Mayhem."

"The One!" Black*Star cries out.

"_You said it took you an Maka hours to take that guy down!_" Tsubaki exclaims.

"That's why Juniana left her with The One," Soul sighs. "So there would be no way for me to free her, much less escape."

"_But you did,_" Tsubaki says.

"But I didn't free Maka."

"Who's The One of **Black **Mayhem?" Moon asks.

"The One is an ogre," Soul says. "He is unbelievably powerful."

"The One of **Black** Mayhem has the power to control his shadow, just like Tsubaki in Enchanted Sword Mode," Black*Star says. But no one hears his, Grims is having a panic attack.

"THIS IS CRAZY! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!" He shouts.

"Shut up!" Soul hisses. "You'll get us caught!"

"Soul!" Black*Star says. "Just calm down! We've been yelling in here for a while. I don't think anyone's going to find us up in here."

"He's got a point," Janine says. "Please continue."

"Alright, alright," Soul takes a calming breath. "They let The One of **Black **Mayhem hold onto Maka so I wouldn't try anything to stop them. If they find out I've escaped, who knows what they'll do to Maka!?"

"How did you escape?" Black*Star asks.

"I shoveled out of the cell they had me in," Soul's arm flashes blue and transforms into a black scythe blade with a zigzagging red color.

"Do you think they know you're missing yet?" Moon asks.

"I don't know, so let's hurry," Soul transforms his arm back and points again towards to hole. "Black*Star, drop a smoke bomb down into the hole, just in case they're waiting for us."

"_Whoa!_" Tsubaki says. "_Hold up! Can we discuss this first!?_"

"What's to discuss?" Moon says. "We're just going to drop you _alone_ into a hostile, unfamiliar area."

"_See, that's the..._" Tsubaki starts. Black*Star rolls his eyes and throws the small blade into the hole. "_I'm gonna kill you for this!_" Tsubaki quickly flashes into her smoke bomb mode, a small black sphere with a thin ponytail. Tsubaki disappears into the hole.

"_Let's move move move!_" Anxious Grims shouts.

Soul jumps through after Tsubaki, then Reaper. Janine holds a hand over Grims in his firecracker bag form ready to throw one if necessary and follows. Black*Star shoves Moon into the hole head first and jumps in after him.

Black*Star immediately tumbles out of a hole in a cliff. He lands on his face and slides down a short slope.

"That stunk!" The assassin groans. He looks up and sees all his friends being dragged away by several hooded figures.

"Black*Star!" Janine yells as her firecracker bag is yanked off of her.

Grims flashes into his chainsaw form, "_Let us go!_" The chainsaw starts up and hacks the fingers of the figure. He yells and drops the chainsaw. The spinning blade gets lodged into the grey soil. "_CRAZY CHAIN!_" Grims yells as the chainsaw drives around the group of men and off into the grey Kishin Wasteland.

"He's getting away!" The man pointes with his good hand and then quickly grabs the other to stop the bleeding.

"We find 'im!" A raspy, female voice hisses. A wrinkled old leady floats over the group of masked men. She wears a long loose-fitting green and purple dress, decorated with black beads. She also carries a long brown staff. The woman lands on top of Black*Star with her bare feet. "Fa now, les get dese guys back to da towas!" The woman twirls the staff and slams it down onto Black*Star's head.

He blacks out.

* * *

Death the Kid wakes up with his partners hunched over him.

"Lord Death, Lord Death!" Liz calls. "Kid's awake!"

Death, Dr. Stein, and Sprit rush to his side and helps him into a sitting position.

"Father? What happened?" Kid moans. "What time is it?"

"Midnight. You were out cold all day," Dr. Stein says. "Rest for a moment, then..."

"Then we need you to go to Hook Cemetery!" Spirit yells.

"Spirit! He just woke up!" Death scolds.

"But he can still fight! You're a tough little bastard, Kid!"

Death's hand appears from his cloak and hits Spirit over the head, "Reaper Chop!" Spirit falls to the ground, bleeding out of his forehead. He looses consciousness.

"Midnight?" Death the Kid asks.

"Yeah, midnight!" Patti confirms.

"I'm starting to get worried Lord Death," Dr. Stein says. "The kids have been gone for hours."

"What do you mean!?" Kid says.

"We sent Corvis, Janine, and Black*Star with their partners to find Soul and Maka in your absence."

"You did!?" Kid yells.

"Take it easy!" Death says.

"Why'd you send _them_!? I'd have preferred it if you sent... well anyone else would do!" Kid hops to his feet and grabs his partners' arms. "Liz, Patti, let's go after them!"

"Why are you so upset, son?" Death asks.

"Because you replaced me with 6... 14 people!" Death the Kid yells. "And those people were the ones who knocked me out! You replaced me with the ones you knew were stronger than me! I'm not gonna be left out on this mission!"


	10. The One of Black Mayhem

**Vs. The One; Can Symmetry and Asymmetry Work Together? **

Kid looks down at the seemingly untouched soil of the blank grave.

Patti is poking a worm with a stick behind him and Liz, giggling to herself. Liz stands with her arms crossed, looking down at smooth soil.

"I could have sworn this was the grave," Kid scratches his head.

"It is! I know it is!" Liz says.

"But wasn't there a hole here?" Death the Kid asks.

"There's a hole here!" Patti laughs. "Mr. Worm's!" The worm slides back into its hole and disappears. "Dang."

"Patti, can we please focus?" Kid groans.

"But he was sooooooo cute!"

"Hey, maybe that barrier thing also covered up the hole? To prevent anyone from spotting this entrance," Liz suggests.

"That's the most probable theory," Kid says.

Patti pops up between Liz and Kid, "Or maybe this is big Mr. Worm's front door and he's asleep!" Liz removes her little sister's hat and pats her head.

"Let's get down there," Death the Kid says.

"How are we going to do that?" Liz asks, placing Patti's hat back.

"First I'll need to take a couple measurements," Kid says.

Liz sighs.

"I'll need to make sure that we dig a hole aligned with the tombstone," Kid points down at the ground a foot from the base of the stone cross. "Then we'll need to make the hole with a radius of 5 feet so we'll have enough room to fit down."

"Isn't there a coffin right there?" Liz asks.

"Yes there is. To the keep the symmetry we'll have to dig two tunnels, each on parallel to the head stone. Those will hook around the coffin and join together directly beneath the entrance hole." Through Kid's whole symmetry rant, he holds his hands up, with his thumb, index, and middle fingers extended. He also constantly flexes his index and middle fingers.

"Forget symmetry!" Patti yells. "Get your ass moving!"

"Patti?" Liz asks, concerned with her sister's sudden outburst.

"Now where's Mr. Worm!?'

"He's under this grave," Liz says slyly. "We just have to go wake him up! Let's get digging!"

"I'm coming, Mr. Worm!" Patti yells as she drops to her knees. She begins to claw through the dirt. In seconds, the hole is several inches deep.

Liz drops down as well, "I knew Patti would be the most helpful. You gonna help Kid?"

"Hold on," He says. "Let me just run back home and grab some measuring tools and a shovel."

"Don't you dare," Liz glares at her meister.

"It's unlocked! Yaaay!" Patti claps her hands, knocking the dirt off of them.

"Unlocked?" Liz turns back to the hole.

Sure enough, a tunnel has been uncovered leading down to a brown coffin. The tunnel then curves to the left and disappears.

"It must take a while for the barrier to completely cover the tunnel?" Liz shrugs, brushing the dirt off her jeans.

"Enough with your wild speculations," Kid sighs. "Let's just hurry this up. It will be a hit and run mission. We get in, find the guys, and get out. Now turn into guns."

"Why?" Patti asks. "In case we run into some early trouble?"

"No, so we can blast a hole through that coffin. It's a vertical tunnel, we can just fall right straight down."

"You just don't want to get dirty," Liz accuses.

"Do as you're told."

* * *

Death the Kid tumbles through a hole in the side of a rock cliff. Despite his precautions, the obsessive meister still manages to cover himself with soil. He drops his pistols and swats himself in an attempt to wipe it all off.

"Disgusting! Disgusting!" He growls. "Rotten air, messy dirt, asymmetrical tunnels! It's all disgusting!"

"_Oh knock it off,_" Liz chuckles in gun form.

"_Where's Mr. Worm?_" Patti asks.

"_You can see him a little bit,_" Liz says in a soothing voice. "_First we need to get our friends back._"

"_Then we can introduce them to Mr. Worm! Hurray!_"

"Shhh, Patti!" Kid picks up his guns again. "We're in hostile territory!"

He scans the barren landscape around him. Grey rocks and soil spread until they meet the walls of the marge valley they are in. Off in the distance, four towers stand above the bleak desert.

"We should head there," Kid points with one gun.

Dry wind swirls around the meister as he cautiously makes his way over the shifting ground. The sky is blood red and the clouds black. No mounds or hills can be seen in the valley.

The meister and weapons soon get close enough to the towers to see them in detail. Each tower is made from grey bricks and has one window each near the tops. The tops of the towers are flat.

"What beautiful towers!" Death the Kid smiles as he observes how each tower's window has exactly 15 stones on either side of the keystone. The windows are all facing the same direction, as are the 4 doors on each of the towers. The towers align to form a perfect square. Then, Kid notices that one tower is slightly taller than the others and scowls.

"_Should we knock?_" Patti asks.

"Are you crazy?" Kid says. He points to the windows, "We should climb up there."

"_They're like 100 feet in the air!_" Liz says.

Without responding, Kid sprints towards the towers. He quickly flicks his pistols into the air. He tightens the muscles is his right hand, materializing a green skateboard. Death the Kid throws the board down, hops on, catches Liz and Patti and rockets towards the closest tower without a door.

Stomping down on the back of the board, Kid launches himself off the ground. He unnecessarily ollies in the air as he soars towards the window. Letting the skateboard fall back to the ground, the daredevil lands on the windowpane.

Chained to the dark wall across from him is Black*Star. Blood flows from a wound on the top of his head, his eyes are closed.

"_It's Black*Star,_" Patti whispers. "_Is he dead?_"

The assassin lets groan escape his mouth.

"He's not alone," Death the Kid replies. He motions towards the other bodies hanging by their wrists to the cold stones.

Soul, Janine, Moon, and Reaper hang in different places along the wall. Moon and Janine are also unconscious. Reaper and Soul have their attention focused down below. Kid and his partners look down as well and gasp at what they see.

Bound to the floor in chains is Tsubaki. Kneeling over her writing body is a woman with neck-long, glossy black hair. She also is wearing green and purple robes and black-bead necklaces. Her left hand is in Tsubaki's mouth and her right is hovering over her chest. Laying next to the women is a long wooden staff. They are in the center of a large chalk-drawn pentagram, with candles lit at every one of the star's points.

"_Tsubaki!_" Liz whispers in shock.

"Look who else," Kid motions outside the star.

Outside the devil star is a monster; an ogre. The large creature's pitch black body's muscles ripple along his arms and bare chest. His teeth are too big for his mouth. The ogre wears a black cloth around its groin. This is The One of **Black** Mayhem.

Hanging from The One's claws is a girl wearing tattered trench coat revealing her white blouse beneath it. She also wears a red plaid skirt and buckled boots. The girl is barely conscious.

Around the room are several other figures in black cloaks.

"_Maka!?_" Patti whispers. "_And_ _The One_?"

"Dis one ain't got many souls in 'er, no sir-ee!" The strange woman says. Then she closes her eyes and chants, "_Kull skull bun bone! _Soul Pull!"

Tsubaki screams in agony as the woman's hands begin to glow. The color is deep red. When the shaking demon weapon loses consciousness, the woman pulls her hand out of Tsubaki's mouth. She claps her red palms together and several wispy kishin eggs materialize. The eggs begin to shift and bubble and change shape.

"Take deese outside to reform," The woman commands The One. "After dey do, introduce dem to da others.

The One points at Tsubaki with a long claw, "My?"

"Yes, you can take da weapon," The woman says. "But don't kill 'er yet, same with da one you already got!"

The One then points up at Janine, chained to the wall, "My?"

"Leave 'er fa now! 'Er weapon's still out dere somewhere."

"_Grims escaped?_" Liz says.

"We'll have to find him," Death the Kid says. "Did you hear that chant? This woman is a witch."

"_Should we take her now?_"

"She said there were others. Let's see if we can't free our friends, and Reaper and Moon, to help fight."

THe One of **Black** Mayhem grabs Tsubaki with is free hand and drags both girls towards the doorway. Every other cloaked figure takes a kishin egg and follows. To the Kid's surprise, instead of going through the door, The One taps a section of the wall next to the door. A staircase opens in the floor. The ogre heads down the staircase followed by the other figures. The hole seals itself.

"Lower da white scythe!" The witch commands an unseen figure to do.

Death the Kid turns away from the strange scene inside the tower. He sees the adjacent tower's door open and The One exits it. The other figures release the kishin eggs and walk off through the door of another tower. The kishin eggs float up into the air to continue reforming.

"The towers are all connected," Death the Kid states.

"_Oh no,_" Liz groans as she sees The One make his way towards the skateboard Kid left on the ground. "_We've been found out._"

Suddenly, a figure jumps out from behind the tower and charges the ogre. It's Grims.

The One bellows in rage and drops Maka and Tsubaki. He runs to meet Grims.

"I hope these walls are sound-proof," Kid groans as he leaps from the tower window.

The One jumps into the air as Grims's hands glow with the colors of the rainbow. Two white, spotted brass knuckles form over his fists. The dim shadow beneath The One leaps at Grims to envelope him in darkness.

Kid's shoe collides with the side of The One of **Black **Mayhem's head, knocking him away from Grims. The shadow recedes as well. Grims reels back away from his surprise savior.

"Whoa! Death the Kid?" Grims sputters

"No need to thank me," Kid smiles.

"You jerk! I had him! Not cool stealing my soul!" Cool Grims yells.

"_You're welcome,_" Liz sighs.

"Why are you down here anyway?" Grims asks.

"You guys have been gone for three hours!" Kid says.

"Three hours!? That can't be, we've been here for 15 minutes at the most."

"You have!? Time must work differently here, or something."

"_Watch out, Kid!_" Patti squeals. Her meister looks up to see The One swing his claws at him. Kid performs as back-flip and dodges the attack. While The One is focused on the Grim Reaper, Grims punches the serial killer with his brass knuckle. It has little effect on the ogre.

The One roars as he claws at the demon weapon. Cool Grims ducks out of the way and aims another punch at Jack's gut. He catches Grims' arm and raises his other claws. Before he can swing, Death the Kid shoots a wave of pink bullets at him. The orgre is forced to release Grims and retreat.

"Thanks," Grims says, rubbing his torn sleeve.

"_Why didn't you thank us before?_" Liz asks.

"Because you didn't save me," The arrogant Cool Grims answers.

"Come on guys," Death the Kid says. "He's coming back!"

The One of **Black **Mayhem's shadow jumps at Kid. He fires bullets from his guns into it. The shadow slinks back to the ground as The One swings his claws at Grims again.

"You asshole!" He shouts as his brass knuckles disappear. "You don't deserve to live!"

The One growls and attempts to attack Grims again.

Grims's fingers transform into gun barrels, "Together, Kid!"

"Together!" Kid agrees.

Both the demon weapon and meister fire at their opponent at the same time. Unfortunately, Grims' bullets hit the ogre first, knocking him away from the second wave.

"No!" Grims yells. "Sorry! I didn't mean for that to happen!"

"Never mind that!" Kid yells. "He's coming back again!"

The One lunges at Kid.

Kid starts firing at the ground around him kicking up plumes of dust and dirt. The One rips through the cloud to find he missed his target. Kid, who had just jumped up into the air, lands on the ogre's back and shoots at the back of The One's neck.

The One roars in pain and grabs Kid by the legs. He throws the Grim Reaper off of him at at the wall of the tower. Kid hits the hard stones, coughs up a little blood and falls down onto his skateboard, "Beelzebub." He mutters when he sees his board is still around.

The One throws his shadow at Grims. The demon weapon raises his pistol fingers. The solid shadow strike the metal barrels and fly up into the air. It falls back down on a collision course with Grims.

Kid jumps to his feet and kicks Beelzebub at the serial killer, "Tornado Flip!"

The spinning skateboard knocks the shadow away from Grims. It hits the ground and slides back towards The One of **Black **Mayhem.

"_Good shootin' Kid!_" Patti cheers.

"Thanks, Death the Kid!" Gangster Grims says.

"No problem!" Kid says. "Let's finish this guy!"

Grims' fingers turn back to normal. Then, his arm transforms into a spotted scythe blade.

The One of **Black **Mayhem charges at Kid in a final attempt to kill him.

The Grim Reaper fires a single shot at The One, stunning him. Then, Grims jumps into the air, completes his transformation, and lands on The One. The blade cuts through the ogre's back as he evaporates. A kishin egg floats where he once was.

"_Good work, Kid!_" Grims says, sticking into the ground.

"Good work yourself!" Kid smiles. "I didn't know you were an _autonomous weapon_."

Grims turn back to his human form, "All of my personalities are."

"_So lucky!_" Liz says as she and Patti turn back into their human forms.

"So who's getting The One's soul?" Patti asks.

"Would you like it Grims?" Kid asks.

"Why me?" Grims asks.

"You made the final blow."

"Oh… well in that case," Grims approaches The One of **Black **Mayhem's soul. He grabs its tail and sticks out his tongue. Grims places the kishin egg on his tongue and pulls it into his mouth. The weapon chew for a while and then swallows. "That's soul number three!'

"Only three?" Patti giggles.

"I'm 12. I don't get to go on missions much."

"I'll have to see to my father that you do," Kid says. "When we get back home of course."

"But now, we have to save everyone inside," Liz says.

"I'll keep Tsubaki's souls safe until then," Kid extends a hand out and raises his pinkie and index fingers. "Konso!"

The kishin eggs are sucked into Kid's hand.

"Cool," Grims says. "Now let's get moving!"


	11. Souls (First Part)

**Reaper's True Gift; Natana and Sli'iv, Sister Witches**

"What!?" The necromancer gasps. "Dis one 'as no souls in 'im!"

The strange witch kneels over Moon in the pentagram with one hand in his mouth and the other over his chest. In frustration, the necromancer grabs her staff and knocks Moon over the head. He coughs blood and passes out.

"WHICH ONE OF YOU IS DIS SCYTHE'S MEISTER!?" She screams at the figures chained to the walls above her. "EITHER YOU'RE A LOUSY SOUL HUNTER OR…" The witch notices the glowing soul stripe on Reaper's suit. "Or one of you is a soul keeper? One of you is a soul keeper! Ha haha!"

"What's so funny!?" Reaper calls down.

"Oh," The witch continues laughing. "You 'ave no idea do you!?"

"What are you talking about, Juniana!"

"Ha haha! Ha haha!" Juniana falls over, laughing uncontrollably. She stands back up after a minute and looks up at Reaper, "Are you familiar with, Natana?'

"Natana!?" Reaper gasps.

"Lowa the da soul keeper! Ha haha!" Juniana motions towards the pentagram with her finger. The chains pinning Reaper to the wall begin to loosen. Reaper hangs on tight with fear of falling all the way down. The chains begin to lower themselves towards the stone floor, dragging Reaper down with him. As Reaper touches the floor, the necromancer jumps at Reaper and knocks out his legs with her staff. The soul keeper falls over. Juniana quickly rushes over to Reaper and, cupping a hand under his chin, says, "I'm dead, little soul keeper. Natana ate me."

"_That's enough, Juniana!_" Natana's voice rings through Reaper's head. Apparently, Juniana can hear it too. She back away from Reaper. "_No don't back away! I want to talk to him._"

Juniana smiles and swings her staff again. This time, it collides with Reaper's temple. Reaper blacks out.

* * *

Reaper snaps back to reality, sort of. An instant after taking the blow from Juniana, Reaper finds himself surrounded by darkness; the same darkness Reaper finds himself in when he checks his soul. The soul keeper's consciousness floats in the emptiness naked. He turns and finds himself looking into the clear orb that is his soul. Along with the dozens of kishin eggs that float around inside, another figure stands inside.

Reaper quickly averts his eyes when he sees his old friend Natana floating naked inside his soul.

"I don't mind if you look," Natana says. "What you see might intrigue you."

"I'm not looking to have sex, Natana," Reaper answers, keeping his eyes shut. "I'm looking for a way out of this mess."

"I insist you look," Natana says sternly.

Reaper peaks through his fingers and gasps at what he sees. Running vertically up Natana's torso is a soul stripe, identical to Reapers. Seeing this, Reaper uncovers his eyes (trying to maintain eye contact with Natana).

"How can this be?" He gasps.

"I don't think this is the matter that requires the most attention," Natana says. "I'm a soul keeper just like you! There's more that I need to discuss with you."

"You bet there is!" Reaper yells. "How is any of this possible? How's Sun doing? What's the deal with your sister? Wh…"

Natana raises a hand to silence Reaper. She floats towards the edge of Reaper's soul and passes through the clear wall.

"For starters," Reaper says. "How are you in my soul?"

"Remember back when that rat knocked you guys out in Vegas?"

"How could I forget?"

"First of all, that rat was able to do what it did because of the fact that I'm a soul keeper." Natana rushes at Reaper and places a hand on his chest. He winces as he prepares for the uncomfortable sensation of someone reaching into his soul. The meister is surprised to find that his soul stripe isn't even on him.

"What the?"

"You've never noticed that your soul stripe isn't on you while you're inside your own soul?"

"I never really notice my soul stripe at all. Isn't is just supposed to feel like your skin?"

Natana turns away from Reaper and starts to drift away. The other soul keeper approaches Reaper's soul and drives her fist into it. She quickly turn back to catch Reaper's reaction but finds him quickly look back up into Natana's eyes. She sighs and shakes her head, "You have not realized what soul keepers are capable of."

"Yes I have! Soul keepers can store souls inside their own!" Reaper says.

"Tsk tsk tsk." Natana continues shaking her head side to side in disapproval.

"Is there something more to being a soul keeper?"

"Yes there is much much _much_ more!" Natana says. "Let me demonstrate!" She closes her eyes as the colors in her soul stripe begin to bounce and shift.

"How do you have you soul stripe in here?" Reaper asks.

"This isn't my soul we're in. Now shhhhh!" Natana raises her hand. "_So soul so!_ Soul Command!" Natana jerks her eyes open as a bubble escapes from her soul stripe. The bubble changes form and becomes a tiny red orb; it's not a kishin egg though. Natana grabs the orb out of the air, shakes it in her fist and releases it back into the air. A black rat now floats in front of her.

"I don't get it," Reaper says.

"An ability that _all _soul keepers posses is Soul Command. It allows us to reach into our own souls and reform the ones we have stored."

"So, kind of like what necromancers do?" Reaper asks.

"Sort of. But there's more we can do to the reformed souls. Watch!" Natana waves her hand around the rat. It suddenly grows 10 times it normal size. Its fangs elongate and its claws curl around its paw. "Remember when I told you I could reform simple creatures into more intimidating forms? This is what I meant."

"Okay, so not like what necromancers do?"

"Every soul keeper has the same kind of soul. A white colored mixed soul!"

"Mixed soul!?" Reaper exclaims, floating over towards his soul. "So my soul is part human, part…"

"Part human, part witch!" Natana says.

"So when you said you were a witch…"

"Hold on a minute!' Natana interrupts. "We're getting off topic. Back to that rat that knocked you out; part of reforming souls is remaking their abilities."

"Remaking their abilities?"

"Right! I possess the Bewitch ability. So I also have the power to transfer some of that magic into this rat or anything I reform. What I did with Orgog was just that. Also, I gave him the ability to soul keep. That's why all the souls he collected didn't make his kishin egg grow. Instead, he physically grew while the souls were trapped in his own."

"Could you explain what Bewitch is a little more? Everything else I kinda understand."

"Gladly. Bewitch is how I'm here now. When I bewitched the rat that knocked you out, part of my mind was infused with its mind. That's how I was able to talk through the rat and use it to bewitch you and your weapons. My connection stays with anything I bewitch until I release my hold. I cut off my connection to Moon a long time ago. My connection stays with you and Sun."

"How's my friend doing?"

"We've grown used to each other's company. I promise he's not in any pain."

"Good."

"Now to talk about my sister!" Natana claps her hands together.

"This isn't going to cause you painful flashbacks will it?"

"Oh, I faked all those tears and sorrows."

"So why were you really brought to the prison?"

"Oh, I was partially telling the truth. _I _was brought here without committing a crime. Sli'iv on the other hand… well…"

"Sleeve is your sister?"

"It's pronounced Slee-eve," Natana enunciates. "Her body is complicated. Although she is a true witch, she has the weapon gene."

"Weapon gene?"

"Sli'iv can transform into a dark weapon."

"You mean _demon _weapon?"

"No. You see, my sister wasn't always a _normal_ child, I guess you could say. She was dark and sinister. She forced me to use my soul keeping ability to turn her into a demon sword."

"And that's why you were brought to the prison?"

"The first 99 souls I collected weren't what was needed. All of them were the tiny souls of mice, frogs, fish, and etcetera."

Reaper snickers.

"You're right to laugh, it was foolish of me. I had no idea I was supposed to kill _people_. So my sister and I ran away from our home to do so."

"What happened then?"

"We only collected one soul before we were arrested. That soul was Juniana."

"Why would you get arrested for killing a witch? All weapons have to, and witches aren't all that popular."

"We were arrested because of my sister's dark weapon status. Otherwise, your right, we wouldn't have been taken to that prison."

"How old were you?"

"We were both 8 at the time."

"Two eight year olds beat a witch!?"

"My sister is a powerful weapon."

"I see."

"So anyway, way after we were thrown into that prison, I finished formulating our escape plan. I had mastered Soul Command through years of meditation and dispatched a reformed frog into the world to collect souls for me. I planned to have Orgog obtain the souls I needed, teleport him back into the prison and fight my way down into the maximum security cells to escape with my sister."

"Why can't you just teleport down there and then teleport both you and your sister out of the prison? I mean, you could teleport me, Moon, and Sun in and out but you couldn't yourself, why?"

"Strange forces act around that prison. I couldn't do that."

"You're still not making much sense. Your sister is _evil_! Why would you want her to escape a prison!?"

"She's still my sister."

An awkward silence starts between the two soul keepers.

"Please get out of my soul… and take your rat monster with you."

"Very well. But first, let me finish my explanation. I reformed Juniana and made a deal with her. She would do whatever it took to get the souls I needed. I never would have guessed you would get involved. Sorry it's come to this, but it's time for you to decide: are you with or against me?"

"Against you." Reaper says.

"Then it's time for you to die. Don't worry, I'll keep Sun nice and safe. Oh, and take a look at your soul."

Reaper gasps to see only 8 kishin eggs float inside it. Juniana had taken the rest.

"Natana!" Reaper swing his fist at Natana. She and her rat disappears.

"_Reaper! Reaper wake up!_" A voice calls out from nowhere.

"Moon?" Reaper looks around for his friend. He quickly realizes he won't find Moon inside his soul.

Reaper shuts his eyes and reawakens in the tower. Moon, Janine, Black*Star, Death the Kid, and their partners stand over Reaper. The disoriented meister looks around to find the room empty and the chalk pentagram gone. Keeping guard at the door is Soul and his meister, Maka. Reaper smiles and gets to his feet.

"Maka!" He waves. "Good to see you're safe!"

Maka smiles back at Reaper, "Glad to see you're awake. Grims and Kid saved me and Tsubaki.

"Don't forget us!" Patti yells.

"Patti and Liz as well."

"Death the Kid? How did you get down here?" Reaper asks.

"Painfully. You should be down on your knees thanking me! I got dirty, threw up on myself, and nearly got killed to save you!" Kid yells.

"Thanks, Kid!' Reaper gets down and kisses Kid's shoes, just to please him.

"Reaper, that's gross!" Janine covers her eyes and turns away.

"You missed it, Reaper!" Grims yells as Reaper gets to his feet. "Death the Kid and I killed The One of **Black **Mayhem and got Tsubaki's kishin eggs back! Then we scared the poop out of Juniana! We jumped in through the window, knocked down that necromancer and sent her running out the window! It was awesome!"

"That's amazing, Anxious Grims!" Reaper claps his hands.

"I'm Composed Grims."

"Oh, sorry…"

"But there's some bad new," Liz sighs.

"We were too late to stop Juniana from taking most of your souls," Patti frowns. "We're sowwy."

"It's not your fault," Reaper gives a smile, although his eyes sag a little.

"Now that we've gotten all that out of the way," Soul interrupts the reunions. "We should leave now. Who knows when Juniana will be back?"

"Soul's right!" Tsubaki says. "We need to get back to the school and bring reinforcements!"

"Let's go guys!' Black*Star heads for the door.

"That door won't work," Liz says. She rushes past him and slaps a section of the wall by it. A stairwell opens up beneath the assassin's feet.

"Oh!" Black*Star calls up. The rest of the students follow Black*Star down the staircase.

The meisters and weapons push their way through a door at the bottom of the stairs. Surrounding the tower are dozens hooded figures. Juniana stands at them in front.

They stand with their jaws on the floor.

"Go go GOOOO!" Moon yells as they push back into the tower.

"Kill Dem!" Juniana commands as the horde of kishin charge the tower.


	12. Souls (Second Part)

**Enter the Evil Monk; How to Copy a Death God Martial Art**

"Grims, Tsubaki, and Black*Star! Block the door!" Death the Kid yells.

The demon weapons and meister comply, shoving their bodies against the wood as the kishin slam into it from the other side.

"Looks like we're gonna have to fight our way out," Soul groans.

"Then let's come up with a strategy!" Maka says. She then looks to the ones holding the door in place. "You three just hold on a little longer. We'll prepare a plan."

"I'm not leaving my partner," Janine says.

"Then stay down here," Tsubaki says. "We may need you. The rest of you go!"

"Hey! Reaper where are you!?" Moon yells, frantically searching for his partner.

Up above, sitting cross-legged in the center of the floor is the soul keeper. He has his eyes closed, lost in thought, "_So I'm part witch? I'm just like Natana then, just less evil. But I can do everything she can. So, maybe if I sit in silence and study my soul, I can figure out how to do Soul Command._"

"Reaper Reaper Reaper!" Moon jumps to the top of the stairs, followed by Maka, Death the Kid and their partners. "What are you doing!?"

"SHHHHHH!" Reaper raises a hand. "Stay as quiet as you can."

Reaper's consciousness floats down to his soul. He hovers in front of the large white orb. Then, he lays a hand on it. Reaper is surprised to see his hand falls into it. The soul keeper forces his entire body into his soul. The 8 remaining kishin eggs around him drift towards him. Reaper grabs one and smiles, "_Orgog_."

"_So soul so! Soul COMMAND!_" Reaper's pupils shrink as the kishin egg disappears from his soul.

Reaper opens his eyes to see the small red orb float in front of him.

"Reaper?" Kid gasps.

Reaper grabs the soul in his fist, pumps his soul wavelength into it, and then lets it float back into the air. A small grey beast lands between Reaper and the others; Orgog the Bewitching Beast. Orgog is only as tall as Maka's (one of the smaller people in the room) knees.

"ORGOG!?" Moon screams as he leaps forward. He transforms into a scythe mid-air and spirals down at the beast.

"_Dodge,_" Reaper thinks. Orgog jumps to the side, avoiding Moon's attack. The white blade pierces the ground in front of his partner. Orgog lands on its lacerated hand and whimpers.

"Oh, sorry, boy," Reaper says. He closes his eyes and points towards Orgog. "_Heal._"

In seconds, Orgog's fingers grow back, and all scars on his hand are gone. Its stomach wound and "x" on its back also close up.

"Reaper?" Maka mutters. "What in the world?"

"Don't have time to explain," Reaper gets to his feet and picks up his weapon. "This little guy is going to help us escape. What's our plan?"

"We don't know yet," Soul says.

"We do!" Black*Star runs to the top of the stairs. "Depressed Grims turned into a _flamethrower_. When I give the signal, Tsubaki will turn into a smoke bomb letting the door open. Then, through the smoke, Janine with blast a hole in the line of evil humans so we can run out and fight the remaining ones."

"Not bad," Liz says.

"I like it!" Patti smiles

"Let's get to work!" Death the Kid says. "Transform!"

Liz and Patti flash into guns. Kid catches them and shuts his eyes.

Reaper gasps as a blue orb grows around the meister. Three white lines reach across half of it like the ones on Kid's hair.

"You can see it too?" Maka asks, seeing Reaper's expression.

"What… is that?" Reaper sputters.

"Their soul wavelengths expanded. That means they're resonating," Maka explains. "Since when have you been able to use Soul Perception?'

"Soul Perception? Is that what this is?" Reaper turns away and thinks, "_There must be more to this soul keeping stuff than I thought._"

A loud thud, burst of smoke, and bursts of fire reaching out of the staircase startles everyone upstairs. Kid's eyes snap open. He gasps and his soul retracts into his body. Reaper can see it floating in his center.

"Damn it, guys!" Black*Star yells. "I didn't give the signal!"

"Let's hurry down there! We'll just have to kill them all!" Soul yells.

"Whoever makes the kill get's the egg, got it?" Moon says.

"Got it!" Black*Star runs and leaps into down the staircase.

"Let's go, Soul Eater!" Maka nods to her weapon. Soul flashes blue and transforms into a long scythe with a grey shaft, red and black blade, and an oval shaped eye near the top. They run down the stairs as well.

Kid follows, then Moon and Reaper.

"Orgog! Fight and kill anyone with a kishin egg!" Reaper commands.

Orgog growls and runs behind his master.

"_Get back! Get BAAACK!_" Soul yells as Maka runs to the top of the stairs. Black*Star, Kid, and Janine follow, each carrying their weapons. Janine holds a spotted pistol (similar to Kid's pistols, but with a longer barrel) with a small white tank connected to the side, a tube running from the back of it into the side of the gun.

The tumble forward as the top spiral staircase explodes. A giant man pulls himself out of the hole. He wears a long black cloak, a small black cap on his head, and a ring of large green beads around his neck. His white beard is tied to look like a cross.

"Little brats, get your asses back here!" The man bellows.

"Rasputin!" Maka stops and turns before she slams into Reaper. She swings her scythe and points it at the man, Rasputin. "The Evil Monk."

"This guy's bad news," Kid says.

"_We killed him once,_" Soul says. "_And we can kill him again._"

"Just try," Rasputin smiles in challenge.

"You're on!" Black*Star cries and charges with his chain scythe in hand. He launches one end at the Evil Monk. With surprising agility, Rasputin jumps away from the attacks. He begins to run around the perimeter of the tower.

"_You're not getting away that easily!_" Tsubaki yells. "_Go Black*Star!_"

The assassin grunts and tugs on the chain. With the added speed from bouncing off the wall, the blade flies back at its meister. He pivots and launches the blade at the other end of the room. The blade impales the wall, creating a tripwire.

Rasputin grunts and leaps over the chain and heads right for Maka. She swings her scythe at the Evil Monk. He catches the blade by clapping his hands and throws Maka into Black*Star. Then he continues his run.

"_Kid, we don't have enough time to resonate!_" Liz informs.

"Right," Kid says. He steps forward with one foot at bends his waist to the left, curving the rest of his body in the opposite direction. With his left gun, Kid points down towards the ground; with his right, Kid points up towards the sky. Both of his arms curve inwards. "Stance of Crime!"

The meister unwinds himself, spins and fires a large bullet at Rasputin. He swats it aside. Rasputin turns and charges at the Grim Reaper. Winding back into Stance of Crime, Kid slashes one pistol downward. The barrel slams into the Evil Monk's chest. Rasputin leans over the meister. Ducking down, Kid slams the other gun into Rasputin. Taking the blow, the Evil Monk lifts Kid off his feet and throws him aside.

"Death the Kid!" Janine cries and takes aim with her own weapon. She pulls the trigger, sending wild orange flames out of the barrel. The inferno does nothing to stop the Evil Monk from charging at Janine and swatting her aside like a fly. She hits the wall and falls to the ground, leaving a red stain on the stones behind her.

"Janine!" Reaper cries out seeing his friend get trampled. "Get him, Orgog!"

The Bewitching Beast throws itself at Rasputin and bites down on his leg.

"How cute, a little doggie," Rasputin smiles and kicks his feet together. Orgog is thrown off. "You're not going to beat me again. I'm back and more powerful than ever!"

Reaper steps in front of Rasputin as he charges around the room again. He holds his blade down at the ground.

Amused, Rasputin stops in front of him, "Oh, is it your turn to get crushed?"

"_Reaper!?_" Grims calls.

He holds a hand up to stop the others from fighting, "I got this guys. Don't interfere."

"Yes! Let us duel alone!" Rasputin slams his fist into his palm.

"Rasputin the Evil Monk, you hurt my friends and have committed crimes against humanity in both your lifetimes." Reaper glares at his opponent. "It's time for you to die again. Your soul will be mine!"

"_Let's go!_" Moon yells.

Rasputin roars and slams his fist down into the ground. Reaper jumps away before he's hit. Rasputin continues to throw punches at the soul keeper. He gracefully parries every one by twirling his scythe into different positions. When Rasputin is parried, at one point, he pushes the scythe away causing Reaper to lose his balance. He then swings his fist in an arc to slam Reaper's side. Reaper skillfully swings his scythe to parry that and a second attack on the other side. The meister back-flips and kicks Rasputin in the face with such force that he stumbles back.

Burying the end of the shaft into the ground, Reaper uses the scythe to vault over Rasputin and slams his back with the scythe hammer. The Evil Monk howls and dives forwards. The angered kishin turns and charges at Reaper again. He slams his giant hands inward to crush Reaper between them. Reaper spins his scythe onto his shoulders and holds them behind his neck, parallel to the ground. Rasputin's hands hit the ends of the shaft and stop them from moving. Reaper swings himself up onto the shaft and stands on it. The meister leaps at Rasputin and slams into his nose. Blood spews from his nostrils as the Evil Monk stumbles around again. He drops the scythe on the ground and retreats a few steps.

The meister lands on the floor and picks up his scythe. He twirls it around his body as he turns to face the Evil Monk again. Reaper curves his body so his hip juts out to the left.

"Hey! He using a Death God Martial Art!" Kid points out. "He can't do that!"

Reaper positions his arms like Death the Kid, holding his scythe blade high in the air with his right hand and the lower end of the shaft with his left hand. Reaper can feel his wavelength begin to pump against his chest when he assume the Stance of Crime.

_Moon seats himself at his piano, "Time to resonate!" The pianist begins to strum his tune, a soft, melodic rhythm. Blue lights fill the Concert Duet Stage. The piano begins to glow with a white light._

Reaper smiles as his scythe begins to glow with an intense white light. His wavelength's beat begins to slow to match the slow tempo. The scythe blade begins to bubble and throb. The white color on the blade and hammer darkens becoming a thick black. The hammer thins out and becomes a short, rounded axe blade. The scythe blade widens and extends farther away from the scythe shaft. The blade curls around more.

"Go! SHAMAN HUNT! Reaper hollers as he unwinds himself out of the Stance of Crime. Taking a long step forward, Reaper swings his weapon like a baseball bat. In a quick blue blur, the blade cuts through Rasputin's chest. He disappears into black smoke. The Evil Monk's kishin egg hovers in the air where he once stood.

The other meisters and weapons stand in awe, their jaws on the floor. Janine gets to her feet and rubs her head, "Reaper… that was… INCREDIBLE!" She runs and hugs the soul keeper, leaving Grims on the ground. Reaper smears away some of the blood staining the back of her shirt. The wound doesn't appear too bad.

"_Good work, partner,_" Moon then turns back to his human form and points towards the red soul. "Now go get that kishin egg!"

Reaper approaches the small orb. He plops it in his mouth and swallow it whole. The soul stripe begins to glow, then it diminishes.

"Now we have 8 souls back," Reaper says. "But we still have a long way to go if we want to get the rest."

"_Don't be upset,_" Patti comforts.

"Yeah, I can think of a better number of souls to have than 8!" Kid smiles.

"_We'll have a chance to get them back, guys,_" Tsubaki says. "_We're going to have to fight the remaining evil humans outside. Seems to me they sent Rasputin in here to either flush us out or kill us._"

"Tsubaki's right!" Black*Star grins. "Now let's go get your souls back, Reaper!"

"You guys," Reaper smiles at his friends. "I'm so grateful. But we're going with what Moon said earlier. You keep the soul of whoever you kill."

"Sounds good," Maka says.

"_Right,_" Soul agrees. His reflection appears in his blade, slurping drool off his lips. "_Remember, we have to reclaim our lost souls too._"

"_Then what are we waiting for!?_" Patti cheers.

"Tsubaki, Enchanted Sword mode!" Black*Star commands. Tsubaki becomes a black katana, with bandages wrapped around the hilt.

"Let's go, Moon," Reaper says.

"Right," Moon agrees as he turns back into a scythe.

Grims unexpectedly flashes into another form as well. In a multicolored flash, the flamethrower splits in two. Each half reforms over Janine's fists as spotted brass knuckles.

Janine slams them together, "I bet we'll get the most!"

"You're on, Starkers!" Black*Star gives a thumbs up. Janine smiles in appreciation.

"Let's go, Soul," Maka turns and dives into the hole made by the Evil Monk. The others follow her into the Kishin Wasteland's fields.


	13. Souls (Last Part)

**20 vs. 99, Who Will Win?; I Got Your Back and Vice Versa**

The meisters and their weapons emerge from the large hole in the side of the tower.

"Impossible!" Juniana gasps. "Rasputin was defeated!"

"You'd better believe it, witch!" Black*Star grins. "Now it's time for the rest of you to die!"

"We've beaten you all before and we'll do it again!" Maka points her scythe at the hooded kishin surrounding them.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but there's only 4 of you." One evil human steps next to the necromancer. He wears a brown paper bag over his head with two eyeholes. He waves his machete in front of him.

"And with da combined amount of reformed souls we collected from Soul Eater and Reaper," Juniana says. "We 'ave exactly 99 of us. And a witch."

"_Sonson J._" Soul calls to the man. "_Never thought I'd see a pathetic kishin like you again._"

"Wait!" Juniana hisses. "Dere was another one who came down here. Da son of Lord Death! Where is he!?"

"Death Cannon!" A voice cries from high up above. Death the Kid aims his cannons down at the rows of kishin from the top of the tower. The black needles on his arms and the barrels, release all their stored energy, firing two yellow cannonballs down below.

"No! I didn't get to kill anything!" Sonson J. runs away screaming.

"_Kull skull bun bone!_" Juniana chants. "Iron Skeleton!"

The cannon balls slam into the ground. The field is covered by plumes of skull-shaped smoke.

"_Good shootin', Kid!_" Moon cheers.

The smoke clears, revealing several kishin eggs floating around in the air. The other cloaked kishin stand in shock.

"I'm in a generous mood!" Kid yells down. "Everyone can have 6 of the 30 kishin eggs down there."

"_Thanks, bro!_" Cool Grims says. Grims quickly flashes back into his human form and starts gobbling down 6 kishin eggs floating in the air.

While everyone is collecting their prizes, Kid jumps down from the tower. Liz and Patti turn back to their human forms briefly to suck three kishin eggs each into the black magazine of their weapon forms. Then, every weapon turn back to continue fighting.

"Now we've got 14 souls," Reaper smiles, slurping down his 6th soul.

"Alright, all you kishin!" Black*Star yells. "Actually, there's 11 of us! Some of us are just weapons!"

"_And I count as 9 people,_" Grims says. "_So its now 20 to 70!_"

"Hey, where's the necromancer?" Maka asks. "Her soul's not here!"

"_Kull skull bun bone! _Breaking Femur!" Juniana's voice cries out.

The necromancer leaps out of the air, holding her staff over her head. Purple energy wraps around the staff, cocooning it inside a giant grey bone. She slams it down on top of the Orgog.

"Orgog!" Reaper yells in horror, seeing its soul float in the air. It is no longer a kishin egg, instead it is a light green color.

"_Juniana!? She wasn't destroyed!?_" Liz gasps.

"_Then let's kill her now!_" Patti growls.

Kid assumes the Stance of Crime again. He then leaps at the necromancer in an attempt to blast her close-range.

"Iron Skeleton!" She declares as Kid pulls the trigger less than a foot away. A blast of pink energy is pushed out of the gun and hits Juniana. She slides back a couple of inches but keeps her footing.

"I'm not through with you yet!" Kid yells, twisting his body around. He hits the necromancer with his other gun, knocking the staff out of her hand. He then continues to spin on one foot. Kid stops again to fire another close-range shot. Juniana presses her hand over the barrel as it fires. The energy is snuffed out.

"Iron Bone Knuckle!" Juniana declares as she punches Kid with her other fist. He stumbles backward and trips, landing on his butt.

"Iron Bone Heel!" Juniana twists around and kicks Kid with the back of her foot. Her heel collides with Kid's jaw, pulling him back up into the air.

The necromancer scoops up her staff and swings it at Kid. The wood collides with his rib-cage. Kid coughs up blood and stumbles around to the side. The witch then jumps into the air and holds her staff over her head, "Breaking Femur!" A bone forms around the staff as it comes down on Kid's head.

The meister lets a smiles escape his lips as he crumples to the ground.

Reaper quickly grabs Orgog's soul in his hand. When he lets it back into the air, the Bewitching Beast re-appears. It runs off to join the fight with the other meisters.

"_Good thing Kid was able to distract Juniana,_" Moon says. "_Now let's not let his injuries be in vain!_"

"Right," Reaper agrees. He bends his body and holds his scythe blade high in the air. "Stance of Crime!"

The blade then morphs into its Shaman Hunt form.

As the bone falls away from the staff, Juniana looks up to see Reaper winding up to attack. Juniana growls and leaps at the soul keeper. "_Kull skull bun bone!_ Vertebrae Sword!"

"Shaman Hunt!" Reaper yells as he swings his scythe blade at the necromancer. The staff transforms. It takes the form of a human spine. Juniana holds it to block the scythe blade before it hits her.

"_She blocked the Shaman Hunt!_" Moon cries out.

"Iron Bone Knuckle!" Juniana winds up to punch with her free hand.

"_So soul so! _Soul Command!" Reaper chants. A kishin egg flies out of his soul stripe and takes the blow. The egg disintegrates in a red flash.

"_Reaper!_" Moon cries. "_We lost that soul!_"

"At least we're alive!" Reaper pulls the scythe away from Juniana. She runs at him and swings her vertebrae sword at Reaper. He parries the attack with the scythe shaft.

Behind them, Black*Star, Janine, Maka, and their partners fight off the other kishin.

Kishin eggs fly through the air as they cut and punch their way through the lines of cloaked evil humans. As quickly as they kill them, they consume the souls.

"Keep it up, guys! We're doing great!" Janine yells. One dagger-wielding man dives at the meister. She ducks underneath the man and punches his gut from below. "Brass Wavelength!" She chants as pink sparks fly through the air around her fist. The man spits blood as he soars right into Black*Star, who cuts the man in two. He grabs the kishin egg out of the air.

"Here you go, Tsubaki," Black*Star holds the egg towards his sword.

"_What are you doing!?_" Grims yells. "_That's our kill!_"

"What do you mean? I just cut that guy!"

"_Don't argue,_" Tsubaki says. "_We're all working like a great team. Please don't ruin this, guys._"

"Fine," Black*Star groans. He tosses the kishin egg to Janine. She flashes him a wink as Grims consumes it in her hand.

The color suddenly drains from Janine's face as a man lowers an axe down on Black*Star.

"Look out!" She yells.

Black*Star turns and sees the man. He raises his enchanted sword in defense. Sparks fly as the metal blades collide. The assassin's eyes bulge and roll back. He lets out an earth-shattering roar.

"Black*Star!?" Janine gasps.

"_Don't worry about us,_" Tsubaki says. "_We're just trying out the power of the enchanted sword. Keep fighting!_"

"Okay," Janine turns to help Maka fight a four-armed man.

The man presses down harder with his axe. Black energy envelops the enchanted sword. Beneath Black*Star's feet, his shadow begins to bubble. A long, whip-like entity rises up and coils around his body. Black tattoos form on Black*Star's face. The man's eyes widen as a storm kicks up around them.

"SHADOW*****STAAAAAARRRR!" The assassin explodes. Black*Star's shadow lashes at the man, stabbing a hole through his chest. Black*Star holds two fingers to his face with his free hand as his shadow cuts through the rest of the man's body. The assassin falls to his knees as his tattoos fade, his shadow slinks back to his feet, and the wind dies down. A kishin egg hovers in the air where the man once stood.

"_Good work, partner,_" Tsubaki says. "_We're one step closer to mastering this weapon mode._" The sword glows and changes form. Now Tsubaki is in her chain scythe mode. The assassin gets to his feet and grabs the kishin egg.

Kid awakes to see Reaper and Juniana fighting. Reaper notices him, "Kid! Don't worry about us! Go help the others!"

The meister nods and runs passed them. He takes aim at the many figures running about the fields. He fires wave after wave of bullets at them, leaving holes in their bodies. As he passes the kishin eggs they leave behind, he sucks them into his guns.

Maka and Janine attack the four-armed man simultaneously. When he ducks the black and red scythe, Janine is there is punch him back.

"It took Soul and I a while to kill this guy," Maka says. "It's good that I have back-up this time."

"Don't mention it," Janine smiles. Suddenly, her brass knuckles glow and merge. Janine is left holding a large lollipop.

Adorable Grims gasps, "_Ben 10! Look Janine, it's Four Arms from one of my favorite TV shows! Ben 10!_"

"No Grims!" Janine yells. "This isn't Four Arms, whoever he is."

The man snickers at Adorable Grims. Maka cuts through him while he's distracted, leaving a kishin egg in his place.

"_Awe man,_" Grims groans. "_Show's over._"

"_Get it together, you two!_" Soul says, his blade deflecting an attack from another evil human, wielding a saber.

"Sorry!" Janine shakes her head. She swings her lollipop at the attacking evil human. "Go Jaw Breaker!" The lollipop collides with the man's head. He is thrown to the side. Maka then swings her scythe down on the man. He vaporizes.

"You take these kishin eggs, Grims!" Maka says. "I'm gonna go help Kid!"

"Sure thing," Janine nods. Grims' head appears in place of the lollipop. He swallows the two kishin eggs.

Kid shoots at a hairy man looming over him. The bullets do nothing to stop him from swiping his claws at the meister.

"Don't worry, Kid!" Maka yells as she brings her scythe blade over his body. The wolf-man falls into the blade and disintegrates.

Soul's torso appears out of the scythe blade, "You're welcome." He grabs the kishin egg and swallows it.

Orgog leaps over Kid and runs straight at a group of men, each on with baseball bats. One man swings his bat at the Bewitching Beast. It dodges the attack and glares into the man's eyes. His eyes turn red as well, then he swings his bat and takes off the other men's heads. Orgog finishes that man by biting down on his neck.

Maka runs to collect those kishin eggs, but Orgog jumps through the air and chomps down every one.

While the kishin are focused on the other meisters, Reaper and Moon continue their battle with Juniana. Reaper swings his scythe (still in Monk Hunt mode) around again, only to have it parried by Juniana. She slashes at the soul keeper with her blade. He jumps in the air and swings again. The witch parries.

"_We're not getting anywhere!_" Moon shouts. "_We need to end this fight so we can get to slaughter the kishin behind us_."

"Then let's resonate," Reaper pants as his scythe returns to its normal form. "Janine, we need another scythe!"

"Lucky for you, Composed Grims just came out! Here!" Janine throws a spotted scythe at Reaper. He catches it and shoves Juniana back with his foot.

"_I'm here for you, guys!_" Grims says.

"_Then let's play_!" Moon says.

_Moon and Grims approach the piano and take their seats. They quickly pick up a tune. Lights flash around the piano. _

_"This is our second time resonating," Moon says. "So let's keep this simple."_

_"Don't worry, Moon," Grims responds as they begin to play the same tune as the last time they resonated together._

Light trails behind Reaper's scythe as he holds them out to the side.

"Curse you, Corvis Reaper!" Juniana wails as she swings her sword again.

Reaper lunges forward and kicks the necromancer's vertebrae sword flies across the field.

"SOUL REAPING SCISSOR!" Reaper declares as the blades enter the witch's body. Reaper jumps as a blast of energy soars away in all directions.

"EVERYBODY DUCK!" Reaper yells. The meisters in the field drops to the ground as the wave of energy passes over their heads and severs every kishin remaining.

Tears stream down Juniana's face as her torso falls from her body. Her lower half vaporizes. Then her upper half disappears as well. A small purple orb floats where the witch once was.

"_Reaper,_" Grims pants.

"We won…" Reaper smiles, sweat pouring down his face. "We w… w… won…"

"Reaper!?" Janine calls as she stands up.

The soul keeper falls to his knees. His sweat turns to blood. Reaper blacks out.


	14. Team GR

**A Goodbye Party; Birth of Team GR!**

4 days is how long it took for Reaper to recover.

But once fully healed and re-energized, Reaper was able to conclude his adventure in the Kishin Wasteland. After he passed out that night, Kid had used his Konso ability to store the 49 kishin eggs and witch soul that Reaper had accidentally earned. Reaper was also able to retrieve the 4 souls that Orgog had stored in his soul. Those brought Reaper's soul total to 66 kishin eggs and a witch's soul.

On the 4th night, Reaper, Moon, and all of their friends, old and new, were invited to Maka and Soul's apartment to celebrate their accomplishment, and to wish Moon and Reaper a safe journey.

* * *

Black*Star pops the cork off a green bottle. Champaign rockets out of the bottle. He cheers.

"Black*Star put that away," Tsubaki scolds. "You'll make a mess."

"We can't drink that!" Janine raises her hand.

"Yeah, Black*Star!" Composed Grims agrees.

The assassin sticks his thumb into the bottle to stop the flow of Champaign. He starts to mumble under his breath as he heads back into the kitchen.

Maka, Reaper, Tsubaki, Death the Kid, Janine, and their partners (except for Black*Star at the moment, who is in the kitchen) sit in a half circle of cream colored sofas. Reaper, Moon, and Grims on one, Death the Kid, Liz, and Tsubaki on a second, and Patti, Janine, Soul, and Maka on a third. Everyone is wearing much more casual clothing. A coffee table in the middle of the sofas are covered in bowls of chips and other kinds of snacks and empty glasses on coasters. Under the table, Orgog sits chewing on a chicken bone.

"Well if we're not having Champaign then what are we having?" Black*Star calls from the kitchen.

"Apple juice!" Grims smiles.

"Adorable Grims," Moon sighs.

"I'm still Composed Grims."

"Damn… sorry."

"I dunno," Patti rubs her chin. "Apple juice does sound pretty good."

"I'm getting grape soda," Black*Star states.

"Fine," Grims and Patti groan.

"So Reaper and Moon," Kid says. "What do you plan to do tomorrow when you leave?"

"Kid, not now," Liz punches her meister in the arm. "We're trying to celebrate Reaper and Moon's company."

Black*Star re-enters the room holding a two packs of silver soda cans. He pours them into the cups, sets the extras down and takes a seat next to Tsubaki on the arm of the couch.

"We're not really sure," Moon says. "Since Reaper's been unconscious for so long we haven't really been thinking about that."

Reaper shrugs, "I guess we're going back to the old plan."

"What was the old plan?" Maka asks taking a sip from her glass.

"This was our old plan," Moon pulls a small roll of parchment from his pocket. He unfolds and encourages everyone to take a look. The other meisters and weapons crowd around the sofa he and Reaper are seated at.

"This is our copy of Lord Death's map," Reaper explains. "It was created by someone for us before we quit thee school. When it's opened, the names and positions of 10 evil humans within a 5 mile radius."

"That's bull!" Black*Star jabs his finger into the paper. "There aren't any names on that thing!"

"Well that means there isn't any evil is the middle of the NAVADA DESERT!" Moon growls.

"How does it work?" Tsubaki asks.

"We can't say," Reaper says.

"Well, who made it?" Liz asks.

"We can't say."

"Come on, we're all friends here!" Soul says.

"No, you don't understand," Moon says. "If we tell _anyone_, a bolt of lightning will literally fall from the sky knock us dead!"

"Okay?" Janine raises an eyebrow.

"Can we change the subject now?" Reaper asks.

"Sure," Kid takes a sip from his glass. A drop of soda trickles down his chin. It falls from his face and lands on his white slacks. The Grim Reaper falls to the floor unconscious.

"Alright, new topic of discussion," Maka says. "What are we doing with Kid?"

Liz grabs him and drags him into the kitchen to splash his face with water as everyone else returns to their seats.

Orgog lets out a bark from under the coffee table. Grims bends down to check on him. He finds that the bone is gone.

"Hey, guys," Grims stands back up. "It is alright for Orgog to eat a bone?"

"We weren't going to eat it," Black*Star takes a sip.

"You know," Reaper says bending down to see the Bewitching Beast as well. He reaches out and scratches the beast behind his ear. Orgog smiles and makes a strange purring sound. "Orgog is kind of like our dog. I think Moon and I will take him with us. He can help fight."

"An adorable little puppy like Orgog can't get in fights," Janine pulls the Bewitching Beast out from under the able and sets him on her lap. Patti pats Orgog's head. The Bewitching Beast sits still, giving off a beastly smile.

A black cat hops onto the sofa behind Janine. It wears a pointy black hat and a bell the shape of a pumpkin.

"Oh my god!" Moon cries out. "What a CUUUUUUUUTE KITTY!" He jumps up and grabs the cat. The cat gives a more feline purr than Orgog when Moon starts stroking its back.

Soul starts to snicker into his hand. Maka smiles, controlling her laughter.

"Is this your cat?" Moon asks.

"I don't belong to anyone," The cat says sternly. "I just like it here."

"Ahhh! I talks!?" Moon removes his hand from the cat's back.

"No! Don't stop!" The cat rolls onto its back. "I like this kid, Maka. He has soft hands."

"Sure," Moon starts rubbing the cat's belly.

"That's Blair," Maka introduces her cat.

Kid and Liz re-enter the room and take their seats next to Tsubaki and Liz.

"What'd we miss?" Kid asks. Reaper notices he stained the rest of his pants purple to keep the symmetry.

"Moon met Blair," Janine explains. "And Orgog ate a bone."

"Good, not much," Liz says.

Kid looks down at Moon and Blair. Blair shoots the meister a crooked smile.

"Does he know?" Kid asks Maka and Soul, jerking a thumb towards Blair. Maka and Soul respond by shaking their heads no. Kid shrugs.

"You know," Grims says. "We've been avoiding a conversation that really needs to be made."

Everyone nods their heads in agreement.

"How did what happened happen?" Soul says.

"Strange way to put it, but yeah," Tsubaki agrees.

"My father has been avoiding the issue as well," Death the Kid informs. "As soon as we escaped he sent a team in to break whatever magic was connecting Hook Cemetery to the Kishin Wasteland. That's all I was told."

"And they never found Mr. Worm," Patti eyes begin to water. Janine gives her a reassuring hug. Orgog nudges their arms to get them to pet him again, which picks up Patti's mood.

"They made sure that no kishin were left, right?" Tsubaki asks.

"No. Actually, no one when back into the wasteland," Kid says.

"Why wouldn't they?" Liz asks.

Black*Star grabs a chip off of the coffee table, " 'Cause they knew Reaper finished them all off, I'm sure."

Moon reaches for a pretzel, but Blair tugs on his hand to keep him from moving.

"I dunno," Reaper says. "That barrier was probably keeping them out."

"They worked on the hole the night after we got back," Kid says.

"Who worked on the hole?" Maka asks.

"I don't know," Kid says. "I think it was some students in the E.A.T. classes I'm sure."

"Oh, well then we should have nothing to worry about!" Black*Star grins. He excuses himself and heads back into the kitchen.

"What about that whole _time_ thing?" Grims asks. "When Kid helped me beat Jack the Ripper, he said we have been in the Kishin Wasteland for hours. I was positive that we were only down there for way less time than that."

"You know," Moon says. "When Reaper and I were in that mysterious prison before we came here, Natana said that time worked differently there. She thought she was there for 10 years but wasn't positive."

"This is really confusing," Reaper holds a hand to his forehead.

"If it makes you feel better, I'll look into these matters a little more closely while you're gone." Kid says, grabbing a piece of candy from a bowl. He unwraps it, pops the lemon drop in his mouth, and heads into another room.

He returns a few seconds later with a pencil. The meister scribbles something down on the wrapper and hands it to Reaper, "My number. We'll try our hardest to keep in touch with you while you and Moon are gone. I don't have international  
service."

"That's alright," Reaper says. "We weren't planning on leaving Nevada anyway."

Black*Star plops down on the arm of his sofa with a red, white, and blue striped can of whipped cream. He holds the nozzle to his mouth and presses down on it, releasing the white, foamy, cream into his mouth.

"Black*Star are you at least thinking about the Kishin Wasteland?" Janine asks.

"Eh," The assassin shrugs.

"You're unbelievable," Soul growls. "If it you were the one getting your souls ripped out of your stomach you wouldn't be so unconcerned right now."

"Good boy, Orgog!" Patti says to the beast. It smiles and licks the demon weapon's face. Patti laughs as the grey tongue runs up and down her face.

"Yep," Grims smiles. "Defiantly a dog."

"Actually he's part frog," Reaper says. "Just thought I'd share that."

"Well this has been fun," Blair jumps out of Moon's lap. "But I have to go take a bath now." The cat begins to grow and shed its black fur. Its hat grows in size as well. In the cat's place is a woman with long, curly purple hair. Blair is barely dressed. "Care to join me, Moon?" Blair gives the demon weapon a devilish smile. She grabs Moon by the arm and drags him off the couch and into another room; the whole time, Moon frantically covers his nose to stop the bleeding.

Reaper and Soul sit in shock. Kid rubs his eyes to make sure he's seeing things correctly. Maka snickers. The other girls raise their eyebrows and cross their arms. Black*Star and Orgog show no signs that they even care.

"That's some housecat," Reaper says.

"Lucky bastard," Soul crosses his arms and pouts.

Maka stands up and grabs a bowl of chips, "Who's ready for desert?"

"Apparently Moon," Death the Kid blinks.

Orgog lets out a bark.

* * *

Moon and Reaper look back at Death City one last time before they walk down the highway leading away from their old homes.

"You gonna miss this place?" Reaper asks.

"I couldn't care less about Death City," Moon says. "But I'll miss our friends."

"Me too," Reaper says. He then whistles for Orgog. The Bewitching Beast barks goodbye to his newly met stray dog friends and runs to his master.

"Ready?" Moon asks.

"Ready," Reaper turns and heads off. He and Moon have left their black cloaks behind. After what happened in the Kishin Wasteland, they wanted nothing to do with cloaks again (plus they never picked them back up after their fight with Black*Star).

"Hold on, guys!" A voice yells from behind them.

Reaper and Moon turn to see Janine and Grims running to catch up with them. Both of them are wearing their usual clothing and holding a duffle bag over their shoulder.

"Grims? Janine?" Moon raises an eyebrow.

"What are you guys doing here?" Reaper asks.

"We're coming with you," Janine says, plopping her bag on the ground.

"We want to help you get Sun back," Grims says.

"Look, that's really nice of you guys, but we can't take you with us," Reaper says.

"Why not?" Janine asks. "You'll need us."

"Yeah," Grims agrees. "How are you going to be able to use Soul Reaping Scissor without Composed Grims?"

"We've got plenty of other techniques to make up for that," Moon says. "We just invented Shaman Hunt."

"We can still help in other ways," Grims says.

"This will be really dangerous," Reaper cautions.

"Hey, we just fought an army of evil humans and _won_!" Janine says.

"What about your parents?" Moon asks. "Won't they be a little concerned that two 12 years olds are running off with two strange 16 year olds?"

"My parents are dead," Janine frowns.

"Same with mine," Grims says.

"We've been living at a dorm at school together."

"Really?" Moon gasps. "My parents are dead."

"And so are mine," Reaper says.

"So what does this make us? Team Orphans?" Moon chuckles.

"No," Grims says. "I was thinking more along the lines of Team GR."

"Team GR?" Reaper asks.

"Team GrimsReaper," Grims gives a thumbs up.

"Heh," Reaper chuckles. "Clever."

"It's settled!" Janine cries. "Team GrimsReaper sets out immediately!"

"If you two really want to come than I guess it's alright," Moon says. "I see you two have already packed."

"Yeah!" Adorable Grims opens his bag. "See here I've got my yo-yo! And my comic books! And my Transformers action figures! And a bag of lollipops that maybe we can share!"

"Is that really all you packed?" Reaper asks.

"No there's more stuff," Grims says. "Every Grims contributed, this is just what I put in."

"I've also packed," Janine says. Then she notices that Reaper and Moon don't have any bags. "What about you guys?"

"Oh yeah," Reaper says. "When we first were on our own, Moon, Sun, and I would move from city to city making money and living there. We actually did really well living like that."

"Enough chit-chat!" Grims shouts. "Let's get moving!"

Orgog barks in agreement.

Team GrimsReaper sets off down the long highway.


	15. Epilogue

**Epilogue **

"Hey," Reaper thinks. "Now would be a good time to try out Soul Perception!"

Reaper focuses in on Moon's soul first. The small blue orb constantly rises and falls. As it rises it gets brighter, catching Reaper's attention, but as it falls the light dims making the soul very unappealing.

Next Reaper looks into Janine's soul. The pink orb in her chest softly bubbles. It's constantly in motion and alert, but still very relaxed and calm.

Finally, Reaper gazes into Grim's soul and is surprised to see it sits nearly motionless. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple colors spread in a waves across the surface of his soul.

Reaper doesn't bother to look into Orgog's soul.

The soul keeper smiles at having been able to look into his team's true personalities as they leave Death City and the DWMA behind and head towards the future. "Don't worry, Sun! We're a 'coming!" Reaper yells to the blazing sun in the sky.

* * *

"Father," Death the Kid speaks into a large mirror.

Death appears in the mirror and responds, "Oh. Hello, son!"

"We need to talk more about the Kishin Wasteland," Kid says.

"I thought as much," Death sighs. "What else do you need to know?"

"Why are you keeping things so quiet?" Kid asks. "I didn't even know about the clean-up operation until it was half over."

"I didn't want to trouble you," Death assures.

"Even under that mask I can tell you're sweating with nervousness. What are you keeping from us?"

Death sighs and shakes his head, "I promise I'm not hiding anything important. Really, I'm not. Why are you so concerned?"

"Corvis is the concerned one," Kid turns and stides back down the long white hallway in the sky.

"Corvis?" Death asks. "Where is that fellow anyway?"

"Left," Kid says as he picks up his pace.

"He left!?" Death jumps.

Kid continues on his way without another word.

"Did you get all that?" Death asks as Dr. Stein steps out of his hiding place behind the mirror.

"Yes," Dr. Stein says.

"I'm gonna need you to post some more missions of the bulletin board," Death says. "Bring the soul keeper back."

"Of course," Dr. Stein says as he leaves.

Death turns away from his mirror in the death room and approaches Spirit.

"Why don't we just go get him?" He asks.

"No. We don't want to frighten the poor boy. We'll just have to get some students to do so and no create a panic," Death explains.

"I see," Sprit says. "But what do we do when we get him?"

"Take his souls. It's as simple as that," Death continues. "Until then, let's see what we can find about that prison. We don't need a kishin witch to worry about, too."

**_TO BE CONTINUED…_**

**_NEXT BOOK: GrimsReaper II – Hunt_**

**_(Out Now)_**


End file.
